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FIG.  1.     In  the  Woods 


FIRST    BOOK    OF 
FORESTRY 


BY 


FILIBERT    ROTH 

CHIEF  OF  THE  DIVISION  OF  FORESTRY,  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE 

INTERIOR,  IN  CHARGE  OF  THE  WORK  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  FOREST 

RESERVES,  AND  FORMERLY  ASSISTANT  PROFESSOR  OF 

FORESTRY  IN  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 


GINN  &  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


ENTERED  AT  STATIONERS'  HALL 

COPYRIGHT,  1902 
BY   FILIBERT   ROTH 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 
311.9 


jjress 


GINN  &  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS  •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 


.  DURING  the  last  twenty  years  the  general  interest  in  forestry 
has  grown  with  remarkable  rapidity  in  all  parts  of  our  country. 
The  federal  government  has  set  aside  large  forest  reserves,  and 
several  states  have  established  reservations  or  parks.  The  pri- 
vate owners  of  large  tracts  of  forest  lands  are  employing  trained 
foresters  to  care  for  their  property,  and  a,n  improvement  in  the 
smaller  holdings  is  everywhere  noticeable. 

Forestry  is  taught  in  two  special  schools  in  America,  and 
elementary  courses  on  the  subject  are  given  in  several  colleges 
and  preparatory  schools.  A  desire  has  been  expressed  to  intro- 
duce this  useful  and  interesting  study  into  our  public  schools 
and  country  homes,  and  this  volume  is  an  attempt  to  provide  a 
book  on  the  subject  which  shall  satisfy  this  demand.  In  keep- 
ing with  this  purpose  there  has  been  no  attempt  to  write  a  text- 
book or  manual  of  forestry;  but  an  effort  has  been  made  to 
present  in  simple,  non-technical  language  some  of  the  general 
principles  underlying  the  science,  and  to  state  the  methods 
which  are  employed  and  the  objects  to  be  attained  in  the  practice 
of  forestry. 

Early  association  with  the  well-kept  forests  of  Germany, 
observations  made  in  the  widely  differing  forest  districts  of  our 
own  country,  and  three  years'  experience  in  teaching  forestry 
have  helped  to  make  the  responsible  task  of  preparing  this  book 
a  pleasure.  While,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  many  excellent 
German  works  on  forestry  have  served  as  a  basis  and  a  guide 


iv  PREFACE 

in  writing  the  book,  yet  an  effort  has  been  made  to  use  our 
own  woods  for  illustrations  and  to  adapt  the  subject-matter  to 
American  conditions. 

The  collecting  of  the  illustrations  has  been  greatly  facilitated 
by  the  kindness  of  Dr.  L.  N.  Britton,  Col.  Wm.  F.  Fox,  Prof. 
J.  A.  Holmes,  Messrs.  Newell  and  Gannett  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  Dr.  J.  T.  Rothrock,  Prof.  I.  Gilford,  and 
Mr.  Gifford  Pinchot,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  of  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture.  To  these  gentlemen 
I  extend  my  sincere  thanks. 

Especial  thanks  are  due  to  Mrs.  Anna  B.  Comstock  of  the 
Bureau  of  Natuie  Study  of  Cornell  University,  whose  kind 
interest  and  request  called  this  book  into  existence.  Her  good 
judgment  has  proved  of  great  value  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
subject-matter,  and  her  assistance  in  seeing  the  book  through 
the  press  has  made  its  early  publication  possible. 

FILIBERT  ROTH. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I  — THE  FOREST 

PAGE 

THE  WILDWOODS  ..........  1 

WHAT  LIGHT  AND  SHADE  DO  FOR  THE  WOODS        .         .  14 

WHAT  DIFFERENT  SOILS  DO  FOR  THE  WOODS     ...  18 

WHAT  MOISTURE  DOES  FOR  THE  WOODS           ...  21 

WHAT  HEAT  AND  COLD  DO  FOR  THE  WOODS       ...  32 

WOODS  AND  THE  MOUNTAINS    .         .  37 


PART   II  — FORESTRY 

RAISING  OR  KEEPING   UP  THE  FOREST           .....  41 

COPPICE  WOODS 45 

THE  ORDINARY  TIMBER  FOREST 53 

STARTING  THE  YOUNG  GROWTH  UNDER  SEED  TREES       .  04 

STARTING  THE  YOUNG  GROWTH  BY  SEEDING  FROM  THE  SIDE  71 
STARTING  THE  YOUNG  GROWTH  BY  ARTIFICIAL  PLANTING 

OR  SOWING 7t> 

REVIEW  OF  METHODS          .......  95 

CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST      .....  07 

THINNING  AND  CLEANING           ......  08 

PROTECTION  AGAINST  INJURY  FROM  THE  ELEMENTS   .          .  104 

PROTECTION  AGAINST  ANIMALS 115 

PROTECTION  AGAINST  INJURIOUS  PLANTS      ....  131 

USE  OF  THE  FOREST          ....                  ...  133 

CUTTING  TIMBER     .         .                                                                 .  135 

ESTIMATING  AND  MEASURING  TIMBER      .  164 

v 


VI  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

RESIN  AND  TURPENTINE  INDUSTRY 174 

SEEDS  AND  MAST 177 

PASTURAGE    •.         .  •      ~, 178 

GAME  AND  FISH         ._      .         .         .                  .  180 

THE  BUSINESS  OF  THE  FOREST    .       ••/       ,         .         .                  .  182 

SPECIAL  KINDS  OF  FORESTS      .         .         .         .  184 

THE  WOOD  LOT 184 

WASTE  LANDS    .         .         .         .         .         .          .  193 

FOREST  PLANTATIONS  ON  PRAIRIES 195 

SAND  DUNES       .         .         .         .         .  198 


PART   III— RELATED  TOPICS 

THE  FOREST  AS  A  PROTECTIVE  COVER        ....  203 

THE  FORESTS  OF  OUR  COUNTRY 209 

SOME  HISTORY   .    ,: 214 

THE  WOOD         .  .  .  217 

SOME  STRUCTURAL  FEATURES        ....  217 

SOME  PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES 227 

SOME  CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES 230 

WOOD  AS  COMPARED  WITH  IRON 232 

HOW    TO    DISTINGUISH    OUR    COMMON    TREES  ....          238 

CONIFERS     . 240 

BROAD-LEAVED  TREES  .....  246 

HOW  TO  USE  THE  KEY      .         .         .         .        .  256 


APPENDIX 

I.  THE  DOYLE-SCRIBNER  LOG  SCALE 259 

II.  TABLE  OF  CIRCLES         .....  260 

III.  LIST  OF  WOODS  AND  TREES       .  261 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PAGE 

1.  In  the  Woods Frontispiece 

2.  Beech  Woods 3 

3.  The  "  Long-Bodied  "  Oak  of  the  Forest 5 

4.  The  "  Short-Bodied  "  Tree  of  the  Open 7 

5.  Badly  Healed  Knot    . 9 

6.  The  "Blaze  "  as  it  appeared  when  first  made 10 

7.  The  «  Blaze  "  partly  healed  over,  as  it  appeared  seven  years  ago  .  11 

8.  The  "  Blaze  "  just  covered,  as  it  looks  now 12 

9.  Nature's  Methods  are  Wasteful 13 

10.  Even  Spruce  is  made  to  "clean  "  itself 15 

11.  "Leaders"  on  White  Pine  and  Balsam 19 

12.  Longleaf  Pine 21 

13.  Too  Dry  for  Forest 25 

14.  Too  Much  Water  kills 27 

15.  Used  to  Water 29 

16.  Cypress  Swamp 31 

17.  Palmetto 33 

18.  Coniferous  Forests  alone  climb  our  High  Mountain  Ranges      .     .  39 

19  a.    Coppice  Woods .42 

19  b.    Coppice  Woods .     .  43 

20.  Stump  and  Sprouts 47 

21.  The  Wrong  W^ ay  to  cut  the  Stumps 49 

22.  The  Right  Way  to  cut  the  Stumps 49 

23.  A  Little  Light  starts  Young  Growth 55 

24.  Young  Growth  of  White  Pine  under  Old  Seed  Trees  .....  67 

25.  Natural  Seeding  from  the  Side 73 

26.  White-Pine  Cone,  Seed,  and  Seedling '.....  77 

27.  Drill  Board 81 

28.  Seed  Beds 83 

29.  Seedlings 86 

30.  Planting  in  Old  Burned-over  Slash  Land  in  Adirondack^     ...  87 

vii 


viii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PAGE 

31.  Planting  Tools 89 

32.  Pine  Grove  from  Planted  Seed *     91 

33.  An  Oak  Grove  from  Artificial  Seeding 93 

34.  Which  should  come  out?  . 99 

35.  Thinned,  but  will  need  it  again 101 

36.  A  « Burn "       . 103 

37.  Tangle  after  Fire 105 

38.  The  Camp  Fire  as  it  should  be .107 

39.  Trenching  a  Forest  Fire Ill 

40.  Fighting  Fire  in  the  Adirondacks 113 

41.  The  Fires  have  cleaned  up 114 

42.  A  Fire  "  Slash  "  in  the  Adirondacks 117 

43.  The  Imported  Elm  Leaf  Beetle 119 

44.  Pine  Wreeyil:  Adult  Beetle,  Pupa,  and  Grub,  or  Larva  .     .     .     .  120 

45.  Scale  Insect  on  White-Pine  Leaves 121 

46.  Bark  Beetles  and  their  Work 122 

47.  A  Destroyer  of  Forest  and  Shade  Tree:  the  White-Marked  Tus- 

sock Moth 123 

48.  Fall  Webworm 125 

49.  One  of  the  Greatest  Friends  of  the  Forest 127 

50.  Cutting  Spruce  in  the  Adirondacks 135 

51.  The  Tools  we  use 137 

52.  Skidding  Spruce  Logs  in  the  Adirondacks 138 

53.  "  Scaling,"  or  measuring  and  stamping  or  marking  Spruce  Logs  .  139 

54.  The  "  Landing  "  on  Ampersand  Creek,  near  "  Driving  Time  "    .  141 

55.  Rolling  in  Spruce  Logs  on  Ampersand  Creek 143 

56.  Tangent  or  Bastard  Cut 151 

57.  Rift  or  Quarter-sawed 151 

58.  End  of  Log,  showing  Rift  and  Bastard  Cuts 153 

59.  "  Bigtree  "  Logging  in  California 157 

60.  Cypress  Logging  in  Florida 159 

61.  Diagram  to  show  how  a  Forty- Acre  Lot  is  covered  in  estimating 

Timber 167 

62.  Calipers  for  measuring  the  Diameter  of  Trees 171 

63.  Measuring  the  Height  of  a  Tree 171 

64.  Scale  Rules  173 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  ix 

FIG.  PAGE 

65.  In  a  Turpentine  Orchard 175 

66.  Game 181 

67.  Tapping  the  Sugar  Maple 185 

68.  Old-Fash ioned  Way  of  boiling  Maple  Sap 187 

69.  Black  Locust  Plantation,  Meade  County,  Kansas 196 

70.  The  Yaggy  Catalpa  Plantation,  in  Reno  County,  Kansas  .     .     .  197 

71.  Sand  Dune  along  the  Coast 199 

7 '2.    Sand  Dune  in  Holland,  after  Reclamation 200 

73.  How  the  Forest  regulates  Erosion 205 

74.  How  the  Land  erodes  after  the  Woods  are  gone 207 

75.  General  Forest  Map  of  the  United  States 211 

76.  Cross  Section  of  Oak  (upper),  Ring-Porous  AVood ;  Hard  Pine 

(lower),  Non- Porous  Wood 219 

77.  Diffuse  Porous  Woods 220 

78.  Non-Porous  Woods 220 

79.  W'ood  of  Spruce 221 

80.  Spiral  Grain 222 

81.  Shortleaf  Pine 222 

82.  Alternating  Spiral  Grain  in  Cypress 223 

83.  A  Bird's-eye  Board 224 

84.  Wavy  Grain  in  Beech 225 

85.  Section  of  Knot 225 

86.  Effects  of  Shrinkage 229 

87.  "  Shelf  "  Fungus  on  the  Stem  of  a  Pine 231 

88.  Fungus  Threads  in  Pine  WTood 231 

89.  Conifers  with  Leaves  in  Bundles 241 

90.  Conifers  with  Leaves  not  in  Bundles 242 

91.  The  Cedars 243 

92.  Broad-Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate,  Tooth-Edged  Leaves  245 

93.  Broad-Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate,  Tooth-Edged  Leaves  247 

94.  Broad-Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate,  but  Lobed  Leaves  .  249 

95.  Broad-Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate,  but  Lobed  Leaves  .  251 

96.  Leaves  Simple,  Alternate,  but  with  Entire  Edge,  and  Trees  with 

Opposite  Leaves 252 

97.  Compound  Leaves,  but  Alternate 253 

98.  Compound  Leaves,  Opposite 255 


FIEST  BOOK  OF  FORESTRY 
PART  I 

THE   FOREST 

THE   WILDWOODS 

IT  is  a  bright  September  day.  Let  us  take  a  stroll 
into  the  wild  woods. 

Here  we  are.  A  fringe  of  wild  rose  and  raspberry 
bushes  introduces  us  to  a  denser  border  of  hazel,  dog- 
wood, and  hawthorn,  mixed  with  shrubby,  limby  trees 
of  beech,  maple,  and  elm.  Let  us  break  through  the 
forest  border.  What  a  change !  Within  a  few  steps  we 
have  passed  from  a  grassy  pasture,  through  a  dense  wall 
of  shrubbery,  into  the  lofty,  cool,  and  shady  forest  proper. 
Stately  trees  of  maple,  beech,  elm,  and  oak  stand  widely 
spaced;  the  ground  is  no  longer  covered  with  grass  or 
shrub,  but  is  a  regular  forest  floor,  —  a  thick  layer  of 
leaves;  while  the  light  of  day  is  shut  out  above  by 
a  dense  canopy,  —  a  roof  of  branches  and  leaves,  the 

crowns  of  our  trees. 

1 


FIEST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

It  is  a  ^mature- old  stand;  the  trees  are  mostly  over 
two  feet  ;K  diameter  avul  eighty  to  one  hundred  feet 
high,  and  it  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  they  started  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago. 

It  is  a  mixed  stand  of  different  kinds  of  broad-leaved 
trees,  or  hardwoods,  with  here  and  there  a  pine.  Most 
of  these  trees  are  long  shafted,  —  their  trunks  are  long 
and  free  from  limbs  for  thirty  to  forty  feet  from  the 
ground, — and  how  greatly  they  differ  from  the  beautiful 
shady  elms  about  the  house ! 

Some  of  the  trees  are  not  as  thrifty  as  the  rest ;  they 
appear  injured ;  their  crowns  are  small,  and  the  crowns 
of  the  larger  trees  crowd  and  shade  them.  We  will  call 
these  trees  suppressed,  and  the  larger  ones  dominant. 

Some  of  the  suppressed  trees  are  nearly  or  quite  dead, 
and  it  appears  that  the  crowding  and  shading  cause 
this  injury. 

Though  there  is  an  abundance  of  room  on  the  ground, 
there  are  but  few  young  trees,  and  these  only  in  the  places 
where  the  roof,  or  canopy,  of  our  forest  is  less  dense, 
where  some  old  tree  had  fallen  years  ago.  And  yet  these 
trees  must  have  borne  many  a  good  crop  of  seed  during 
their  long  lives.  What  has  become  of  all  this  seed?  Did 
it  fail  to  germinate  ?  Did  the  seedlings  die  ?  Apparently 
this  dense  stand  is  not  a  good  place  for  young  trees;  and, 
strange  enough,  the  few  smaller  trees  which  do  exist  seem 
to  be  all  maple  and  beech,  while  hardly  any  of  them  are 


FIG.  2.     Beech  Woods 
(After  Rothrock) 

3 


4  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTEY 

oak  or  hickory.  Evidently  the  beech  and  maple  can 
endure  this  unfavorable,  dense  shade  better  than  oak, 
hickory,  and  elm.  We  may  call  the  beech  and  the  maple 
tolerant,  since  they  tolerate  or  endure  shade;  while  evi- 
dently the  oak,  hickory,  chestnut,  locust,  and  others  are 
rather  intolerant  of  shade  and  fail  to  start  and  thrive  in 
places  where  the  beech  might  still  do  well. 

Let  us  walk  on  a  little  way.  The  woods  are  more 
open,  the  trees  more  numerous  and  more  mixed.  There 
are  quite  a  number  of  smaller  trees,  some  mere  poles  or 
saplings.  Here  we  see  a  tree  with  an  uncommonly  broad 
crown ;  it  appears  as  if  it  were  monopolizing  the  ground 
in  a  most  greedy  fashion.  Some  people  have  termed 
such  trees  wolves,  though  their  greed  would  suggest  quite 
another  animal.  But  whatever  the  name,  they  are  hardly 
good  neighbors  for  these  fine  little  saplings  of  oak  and 
chestnut. 

There  are  a  number  of  bushy  young  trees  here,  and 
even  a  few  brambles;  dogwood  and  hazel  find  sufficient 
sunlight.  In  a  garden  we  should  hardly  tolerate  these 
bushes,  but  would  rather  grub  them  out  as  weeds ;  and  yet 
they  are  hardly  more  useful  here  in  the  woods,  for  surely 
they  will  never  grow  into  trees,  and  in  all  cases  may  hin- 
der young  trees  from  starting  or  choke  off  the  seedlings 
of  our  useful  trees.  They  &w  forest  weeds,  and,  while  we 
could  hardly  afford  to  grub  them  out,  yet  we  shall  try  to 
keep  them  down;  but  how?  Well,  Nature  has  already 


FIG.  3.     The  «  Long-Bodied  "  Oak  of  the  Forest 

(After  Pinchot) 
5 


6  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

given  us  a  hint  this  very  hour,  —  shade  them  down  by  keep- 
ing a  close  stand  of  trees.  You  will  say :  "  But  what  if 
the  trees  are  mature  and  must  be  cut  ?  "  Then,  of  course, 
these  weeds  start  up,  and  all  that  we  can  do  is  to  get  a 
new  stand  of  trees  as  soon  as  possible.  However,  we  shall 
hear  more  of  this  later  on. 

Have  you  noticed  that  the  red  oaks,  maples,  ash,  and 
basswood  are  fairly  laden  with  fruit  ?  Of  course  it  was 
not  so  conspicuous  over  there  in  the  dense  old  stand,  but 
here  among  this  younger  timber,  where  the  trees  have  a 
little  more  light,  they  bear  a  heavier  crop.  This  would 
be  a  fine  season  to  gather  seed  from  which  to  raise  young 
seedlings. 

Why  is  it  that  the  white  oaks  and  beech  do  not  bear 
more  fruit  ?  If  we  came  here  every  fall,  —  and  really  it 
would  be  delightful  and  instructive  to  *do  so,  —  we  should 
learn  before  many  years  that  these  trees  do  not  bear  a 
full  crop  of  fruit  and  seed  every  season.  They  usually 
bear  a  little  seed  every  year ;  but  at  intervals  of  three  to 
five  years  there  are  regular  seed  years,  when  they  bear  a 
good  crop,  as  the  other  trees  do  this  season. 

What  will  become  of  all  this  seed  ?  A  little  of  it  will 
be  eaten  by  animals ;  some  of  it  may  germinate ;  but,  to 
judge  from  what  we  have  seen,  very  little  will  ever  grow 
into  trees. 

But  supposing  we  should  cut  out  some  of  these  larger 
trees  this  coming  winter,  and  "  scratch  "  the  ground  and 


8  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

cover  of  leaves  by  dragging  out  the  logs.  Then  a  great 
many  seeds  would  reacli  the  ground,  and  if  they  germi- 
nated would  have  room  and  light  to  grow. 

Here  is  the  stump  of  a  tree  apparently  cut  last  winter. 
Let  us  examine  it.  It  appears  made  up  of  numerous  rings, 
one  within  the  other.  Let  us  count  them,  beginning  with 
the  pith  which  we  see  near  the  center.  Eighty-five  rings. 
So  this  tree  was  as  high  as  the  stump  eighty-five  years 
ago.  Probably  it  was  about  three  years  old  then;  so  that 
the  tree  was  cut  down  when  about  eighty-eight  years  of 
age.  Quite  an  interesting  fact  in  itself.  But  let  us  look 
at  these  rings  again.  They  are  rather  narrow  near  the 
pith.  This  would  tell  us  that  the  tree  did  not  fare  so  very 
well  at  first  ;  probably  it  was  shaded  too  much  by  the 
older  mother  trees  which  were  here  at  that  time.  From 
the  twenty -fifth  ring  on,  they  are  quite  broad,  —  the  tree 
grew  more  thriftily ;  perhaps  some  of  the  older  trees  were 
blown  down  and  thus  the  young  tree  had  more  light  and 
room.  But  from  the  seventieth  on,  the  growth  was  evi- 
dently slow  ;  the  rings  are  narrow  and  seem  to  grow  nar- 
rower each  year.  This  reminds  us  of  old  age.  Do  the 
trees  ever  grow  old  and  cease  to  be  active  growers?  If 
we  keep  our  eyes  open  to  these  many  records  of  the  woods, 
they  will  tell  us  many  a  tale,  and  probably  they  will  show 
us  that  trees,  though  they  are  generally  quite  long-lived,  do, 
after  all,  grow  old ;  that  trees,  like  people,  pass  through 
stages  similar  to  our  youth,  manhood,  and  decline. 


THE   W1LDWOODS 


9 


Trees  differ  very  much  in  this  respect.  A  poplar  tree 
is  old  at  a  hundred  and  fifty  years ;  a  cypress  lives  to  be 
five  hundred  years  and  more ;  and  some  of  the  large  red- 
woods, the  u  bigtrees,"  attain  so  great  an  age  that  the 
older  members  of  this 
group  began  life  long 
before  Christ  was  born. 

Note  that  smooth- 
barked  spot  on  yonder 
rough-barked  oak.  That 
is  the  place  where  a  limb 
projected  many  years 
ago,  when  the  tree  was 
smaller.  The  limb  died, 
decayed,  broke  off  near 
the  trunk,  and  the  place 
healed  over.  Being  much 
younger,  the  bark  at  that 
spot  is  smoother.  Some- 
times these  limbs  do  not  break  off  e&rly  enough,  or  the 
stub  is  too  large,  like  the  many  you  see  on  these  white 
oaks ;  then  the  tree  can  never  cover  up  the  stub.  The 
large  knot  hole,  from  which  we  saw  the  squirrel  come 
out,  is  a  similar  case;  but  there  the  stub  decayed,  and 
the  decay  proceeded  along  the  limb  into  the  trunk  and,  I 
fear,  did  much  mischief ;  for  such  a  trunk  does  not  make 
much  sound  timber. 


FIG.  5.     Badly  Healed  Knot 

a,  wood  of  the  knot;  b  and  c,  wood  callus  of 
the  stein  covering  the  wound  ;  shaded  por- 
tion, decayed  wood;  black  part,  a  cavity 
remaining 


10 


FIRST   BOOK   OF  FORESTRY 


Here  is  another  smooth  spot  on  a  rough-barked  tree. 
This  is  evidently  not  of  the  same  kind  as  the  one  we  have 
already  noticed.  Why,  there  are  two,  on  opposite  sides  of 

the  tree ;  and  note  there 
are  similar  spots  on  yon- 
der elm !  Sighting  along 
we  see  more  of  them  on 
other  trees,  and  always 
_B  two  on  each  tree.  They 
are  the  blazes  of  survey- 
ors or  of  some  one  who 
wished  to  mark  a  line. 
Were  we  to  cut  through 
one  of  these  blazes,  as 
along  the  line  AB,  Fig. 
6,  a,  it  would  probably 
have  the  appearance 
shown  in  Fig.  8,  6. 

Counting  the  rings  we 
would  find  that  the  blaze 
was  made  when  the 
twentieth  ring  had  been 
formed,  and  since  there 
are  now  thirty-two  rings  on  this  section,  it  means  that  the 
blazes  were  cut  twelve  years  ago.  Three  successive  stages 
representing  the  fresh  blaze,  the  same  seven  years  ago, 
and  as  it  now  appears  are  shown  in  Figs.  6  to  8. 


Outer 
Bark 


FIG. 


"-Bast 


The  "  Blaze  "  as  it  appeared 

when  first  made 
a,  front  view ;   b,  cross  section  on  line  AB 


THE   WILDWOODS 


11 


Let  us  dig  up  a  little  soil  and  see  what  it  is  like. 
Beneath  the  cover  of  dry  leaves  we  find  leaves  in  all 
stages  of  decay ;  below  this,  a  dark  soil,  a  leaf  mold ;  and 
below  this,  earth.  If 
we  rub  a  little  of  this 
earth  in  our  hand,  we 
see  at  once  that  it  is 
not  a  clear  sand,  but 
that  it  is  a  loam  which, 
if  moistened,  would  be- 
come sticky.  Would 
these  fine  hardwood 
trees  have  grown  here 
if  it  were  a  clean  sandy 
soil? 

We  have  now  learned 
several  things  on  our 
stroll ;  but  there  is  still 
something  which  seems 
to  have  escaped  our 
notice,  though  we  have 
climbed  and  stumbled 
over  fallen  timber  at 
almost  every  step.  It  is  the  great  waste  of  material 
in  our  uncared-for  wildwoods.  Here  are  some  fine,  large 
trunks  of  beech  and  maple  half  decayed ;  there  is  an  old 
elm  log  completely  changed  to  a  brown,  powdery  mass 


Oute 
Bark  _  ,       f, 

25     17     20   25 

FIG.  7.     The  "  Blaze  "  partly  healed  over, 
as  it  appeared  seven  years  ago 


12 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


and  covered  with  pretty  moss  and  ferns;  and  yonder 
are  two  large  trees  of  ash,  one  hollow,  the  other  dead. 
But  then,  what  else  could  we  expect?  As  long  as  man 

does  not  interfere 
with  these  woods 
and  utilize  the 
timber,  the  old 
trees  die,  tumble 
over,  and  remain 
until  decay  dis- 
integrates their 
bodies ;  and  rain 
and  snow  gradu- 
ally level  these 
powdery  masses 
and  mingle  them 
with  the  earth, 
where  they  serve 
to  fertilize  the 
ground  for  new 
generations  of 
trees.  Were  it 
not  for  the  fungi 
attending  to  this 
destructive  work,  the  trunks  and  tops  of  a  few  generations 
of  trees  would  cover  the  ground  and  prevent  any  new 
growth,  and  thus  bring  all  forest  life  to  a  standstill. 


Outer 
Bark 


20  ig  18  if  32  jo  //  25  20 


The  "  Blaze  "  just  covered, 
as  it  looks  now 


I 


13 


14  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

If  we  stop  to  think  a  moment,  we  realize  that  as  long 
as  man  does  not  use  or  fire  consume  the  timber,  the 
amount  of  wood  which  decays  each  year  in  the  forest 
must  very  nearly  equal  the  yearly  growth ;  so  that  it  is 
really  wasteful  if  a  piece  of  woods  is  left  entirely  to 
itself. 

We  also  note  that  these  fungi  are,  after  all,  quite  a  useful 
and  even  a  necessary  part  of  our  woods.  Of  course  they 
are  apt  to  do  more  than  their  share;  and  this  handsome 
birch  would  live  longer  and  its  trunk  would  be  of  much 
more  value  without  the  fungus  whose  shelf-like,  fruiting 
body  we  see  covering  an  old  notch,  cut  by  some  thought- 
less person  merely  to  "  try  the  ax." 

On  our  way  home  we  see  some  other  pieces  of  woods. 
Most  of  them  are  open ;  they  lack  the  border  ;  cattle  graze 
in  them,  arid  there  is  a  considerable  growth  of  grass.  We 
note  a  lack  of  young  trees;  and,  on  the  whole,  they  give  us 
the  impression  that  the  growth  is  slow,  that  little  timber 
is  produced,  and  that  when  the  few  remaining  good  old 
trees  are  used  up,  the  woods  will  be  little  else  than 
crippled  brushwoods. 

WHAT  LIGHT  AND  SHADE  DO  FOR  THE  WOODS 

Here  is  apparently  a  windfall;  all  trees  seem  to  have 
been  blown  over  or  broken  off.  It  is  a  rough-looking 
place.  But  see  the  large  number  of  young  trees !  Some 


THE   WILDWOODS 


15 


started  as  sprouts  from  the  stumps  of  smaller  trees,  but 
most  of  them  appear  to  have  started  from  seed.  Here  is 
a  patch  of  very 
small  trees,  appar- 
ently not  more  than 
six  years  old,  and 
two- year- old  seed- 
lings are  seen  every- 
where. Among  the 
young  trees  are 
tangles  of  wild 
blackberries,  rasp- 
berries, and  other 
shrubbery,  and  in  a 
few  places  the  grass 
is  trying  to  cover 
the  ground.  Every- 
thing is  struggling 
to  hold  its  own  or 
to  gain  possession 
of  a  little  more  soil 
and  light. 

Here  is  a  dense 
thicket  of  young 
trees  three  to  eight  FlG' 10'  Even  Spruce  is  made  to  " clean  "  itself 

-  ,   .    ,  (After  W.  F.  Fox) 

teet  high.     Let  us 

count.      Why,  there  are  eight  live  trees  on  one  square 


16  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

yard ;  and  several  smaller  ones  are  dead  among  them,  so 
that  there  were  even  more  some  years  ago !  But  all 
of  these  can  never  hope  to  live  and  grow  to  any  great 
size.  Here  is  evidently  a  struggle  ;  most  of  the  trees 
must  die,  and  those  left  must  be  injured  by  this  struggle; 
for  the  trees  which  will  die  during  the  next  ten  years  are, 
still  using  up  food  and  water,  much  of  which  is  needed  by 
those  which  will  survive,  and  the  crowns  of  these  latter 
are  crowded  and  thus  prevented  from  becoming  as  large 
as  they  should  be. 

Here  is  an  old  thicket  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high,  and 
instead  of  as  many  as  eight  trees  to  a  square  yard,  there 
are  little  more  than  this  number  per  square  rod.  These 
saplings  are  slender  poles,  with  little  short  crowns  of  live 
limbs,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  pole  is  bare ;  the  few 
remaining  lower  limbs  are  all  dead,  most  of  them  decayed 
and  broken.  What  has  become  of  the  limbs  ?  The  dense 
shade  has  prevented  them  from  producing  leaves,  and  as 
soon  as  a  limb  ceases  to  produce  leaves  the  tree  ceases  to 
feed  it ;  it  dies,  dries,  decays,  and  drops  off .  These  sap- 
lings have  cleaned  themselves  and  are  still  continuing  to 
do  so.  Now  we  understand  why  the  large,  long-shafted 
trees  we  saw  on  our  first  trip  have  the  fine,  clear  trunks 
and  make  such  good  saw-logs. 

Without  this  cleaning  our  lumber  would  be  far  more 
knotty  than  it  is.  Shading  and  crowding,  then,  help  as 
well  as  hurt  in  our  forests.  They  help  by  killing  out  the 


THE   WILDWOODS  17 

weaker  trees,  by  removing  the  useless  limbs,  and  by 
making  onr  trees  shoot  up  as  straight,  long-shafted  poles. 

The  question  now  arises  :  Would  spruce  and  other  toler- 
ant trees  clean  as  easily  as  these  intolerant  ones?  Hardly  ; 
their  very  tolerance  depends  on  the  fact  that  their  leaves 
can  live  and  work  in  denser  shade.  But  if  they  do  not 
clean  so  well,  would  the  boards  cut  from  these  trees  be  as 
clear  or  have  as  few  knots  as  those  of  pine  and  chestnut  ? 
Next  time  we  are  in  the  lumber  yard  we  will  find  out  if 
this  be  true. 

Since  crowding  and  shading  make  the  trees  shoot 
straight  up  and  prevent  their  branching  or  forking,  it 
has  often  been  claimed  that  shade  makes  trees  grow  faster 
in  height.  This  may  sometimes  be  true;  frequently  it  is 
not.  This  growth  in  height  is,  of  course,  very  important, 
and  it  is  well  that  we  should  learn  all  we  can  about  it. 

In  going  about  these  openings  and  thickets  we  notice 
that  the  shoots  from  the  smaller  stumps  of  chestnut,  etc., 
grow  very  long  even  during  the  first  year.  Many  of 
these  sprouts  are  over  four  feet  long,  and  if  we  compare 
them  with  the  seedlings  it  is  evident  that  the  sprouts  are 
by  far  the  faster  growers.  Among  the  seedlings  we  find 
some  that  made  ten  to  fifteen  inches  the  first  year,  but 
the  little  seedlings  of  pine  are  scarcely  three  inches  tall. 

If  we  examine  the  little  trees  three  to  eight  feet  high, 
we  note  that  it  is  not  always  so  easy  to  tell  just  what 
is  the  last  season's  growth  in  trees  like  oak,  elm,  etc., 


18  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

but  in  pine,  spruce,  balsam,  red  fir,  etc.,  each  year's  growth 
is  very  conspicuous.  In  Fig.  11  the  young  white  pine  has 
a  candlelike  tip,  about  eleven  inches  long,  then  a  whorl  of 
limbs,  below  this  another  straight,  branchless  part,  and 
so  on.  Now  each  piece  between  the  several  whorls  of 
limbs  is  a  year's  growth,  and  we  call  the  tip  end,  or  last 
year's  piece,  the  leader. 

In  spruce  a  few  smaller  limbs  exist  on  each  leader,  but 
in  young  trees  this  branching  is  rarely  so  great  as  to  hide 
or  disguise  the  leader.  Thus,  in  these  young  conifers,  we 
can  tell  at  a  glance  how  much  grew  last  year,  the  year 
before,  etc.,  and  by  looking  over  a  number  of  these  trees 
we  soon  make  up  our  mind  whether  they  have  grown 
fast  or  slowly  in  height. 

Studying  the  trees  in  this  way,  we  shall  find  that  conifers 
generally  grow  very  slowly  the  first  five  years,  and  most 
rapidly  when  about  ten  years  old ;  and  that  our  eastern 
trees  usually  stop  growing  rapidly  in  height  when  they 
are  about  sixty  or  eighty  years  old.  Hardwoods  behave 
similarly,  but  usually  their  seedlings  grow  much  faster. 

WHAT  DIFFERENT  SOILS  DO  FOR  THE  WOODS 

We  have  seen  a  good  forest  of  broadleaf  trees  on  a 
loamy  or  clay  soil ;  and  if  we  should  journey  through  the 
southern  portion  of  the  New  England  States,  through 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  the  Ohio  valley,  and  the 


FIG.  11.     "Leaders"  on  White  Pine  and  Balsam 
Same  scale  and  locality 


20  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Alleghenies,  we  would  learn  that  such  forests  are  common 
and  cover  a  large  portion  of  our  best  settled  districts. 

A  trip  through  southern  New  Jersey  and  through  the 
sandy  coast  districts  of  the  entire  South  would  teach  us 
that  everywhere  the  sand  lands  are  stocked  with  open 
forests  of  pine.  These  forests  are  mostly  pure,  stands ; 
they  are  not  a  mixture  of  hardwoods  and  pine,  though 
occasionally  a  few  scrubby  hardwood  trees  exist. 

On  the  better  sands  of  North  Carolina  and  other  states 
these  pure  stands  of  pine  are  often  quite  dense ;  the  trees 
are  tall,  and  all  open  spots  are  readily  reclothed  with 
young  pine ;  but  on  the  poor,  white  sands  of  portions  of 
Florida  we  should  find  forests  so  open  and  parklike,  the 
trees  so  far  separated  from  each  other,  so  little  of  young 
growth,  of  shrubbery  or  undergrowth,  that  the  woods 
almost  lose  their  forest  character. 

Over  long  stretches  of  these  woods  the  soil  between  the 
scattering  trees  is  either  entirely  bare  or  covered  with 
creeping  saw  palmetto.  Strange  enough,  the  pine,  which 
here  is  commonly  the  longleaf  pine,  with  needles  ten  or 
twelve  inches  long,  cleans  as  perfectly  as  if  it  were  in 
the  densest  woods.  Evidently  it  is  very  intolerant  here, 
and  possibly  the  poor  soil  helps  the  process  of  cleaning. 

Is  the  climate  the  cause  of  these  open,  parklike  pine 
woods?  Let  us  go  to  one  of  the  many  "hummocks,"  or 
low  flats  with  a  more  fertile  soil.  Within  a  distance  of 
twenty  yards  we  step  from  a  pure  and  open  stand  of  pine 


FIG.  12. 


Long-leaf  Pine 
21 


22  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

into  a  dense,  luxuriant  forest  of  mixed  growth  in  which 
ash,  oak,  basswood,  cedar,  and  cypress  are  often  mixed 
with  scattered  cabbage  palms  and  yuccas.  Evidently  it 
is  the  effect  of  soil. 

In  North  Wisconsin  we  might  see  almost  the  same 
results.  The  heavy  clay  soils  are  covered  with  a  good 
growth  of  hardwoods,  especially  birch,  elm,  and  maple, 
with  a  goodly  sprinkling  of  conifers,  pine,  and  hemlock ; 
but  as  soon  as  we  enter  any  of  the  large,  sandy  districts  a 
regular  pinery,  almost  pure  stands  of  pine,  meets  our  eyes, 
and  wherever  the  sand  is  unusually  poor,  stunted  forests 
of  jack  pine  replace  the  stately  white  and  Norway  pines. 

At  the  border  of  the  forests,  against  the  prairies,  where 
drought  and  sand  conspire  to  make  forest  growth  more 
difficult,  the  sands  are  not  covered  with  grasses  but  with 
scrub  woods  of  jack  pine  and  scrub  oaks.  Similar  scrub- 
oak  woods  cover  the  Cross  Timbers  of  Texas  and  portions 
of  other  western  states. 

From  this  sketch  it  appears  that  fertile  loams  and  clays 
bear  mixed  forests  composed  largely  of  a  variety  of  trees, 
mostly  hardwoods ;  while  sandy  soils  are  usually  covered 
with  monotonous  pineries,  composed  of  one  or  few  kinds 
of  trees.  We  also  note  that  this  distinction  is  very  sharp; 
that  in  most  sandy  regions,  whether  north  or  south,  the 
hardwoods  are  generally  unable  to  replace  the  pine,  and 
that  wherever  they  attempt  to  do  so  the  oak  alone  is 
partially  successful. 


I 

THE   WILDWOODS  23 

Having  seen  what  the  soil  does  in  determining  the  com- 
position of  the  woods,  we  might  also  inquire  whether  the 
forest  can  do  anything  to  alter  the  soil. 

As  we  have  learned  in  our  former  studies,  the  tree  gets 
from  the  soil  only  w^ater  and  certain  useful  salts,  while 
the  rest  of  the  material  of  the  tree  comes  from  the  air. 
The  salts  which  it  gets  from  the  soil  are  its  soil-food,  and 
when  these  salts  are  lacking  in  a  soil  we  call  it  poor  and 
say  that  it  needs  fertilizing;  i.e.,  it  needs  to  have  these 
salts  replaced  to  make  it  fertile  or  enable  it  to  sustain 
plants.  The  salts  which  the  tree  uses,  reappear  as  ashes 
when  we  burn  the  leaves,  twigs,  or  wood. 

Now  when  a  beech  tree  takes  up  twenty  pounds  of  such 
salts  in  a  season,  and  perhaps  fifteen  pounds  find  their 
way  into  the  leaves  which  are  shed  in  the  fall,  these 
fifteen  pounds  may  be  taken  up  again  by  the  tree,  or  its 
neighbor,  as  soon  as  the  water  has  leached  out  and  carried 
the  salts  down  among  the  roots.  In  this  way  the  trees 
take  and  give  all  the  time.  But  besides  these  mineral 
salts  the  soil  also  needs  decayed  plant  matter;  it  needs 
mold  or  humus  to  make  it  really  fertile.  This  is  sup- 
plied by  leaves  and  twigs  which  are  shed  by  the  forest 
trees,  and  these  tend,  therefore,  to  enrich  the  soil.  It  is 
due  chiefly  to  this  mold  that  "new-cleared"  land  is  so 
fertile.  In  many  districts  people  clear  land,  use  it  for 
some  time,  and  then  restock  it  with  forest  growth,  which 
in  due  time  reestablishes  the  former  fertility. 


24  FIEST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Thus,  we  see  that  the  soil  determines  the  character  of  the 
forest,  but  that  the  forest  also  has  the  power  to  modify 
and  improve  the  soil,  and  so  enables  the  soil  to  grow 
more  trees  and  better  trees. 

But  this  also  teaches  us  that  in  all  poor,  sandy  soils 
the  permanent  removal  of  the  forest  and,  especially,  the 
burning  over  of  the  sandy  lands  must  needs  injure  the 
land  by  diminishing  its  fertility;  and  that,  therefore,  it 
is  harder  to  start  a  forest,  and  the  forest  will  grow  much 
less  vigorously  on  such  maltreated  lands. 

WHAT  MOISTURE  DOES  FOR  THE  WOODS 

On  a  trip  along  the  Texas  Pacific  Railway  from  the 
eastern  boundary  of  Texas  westward  we  first  pass  through 
long  stretches  of  pinery,  then  many  miles  of  mixed  for- 
ests, which,  on  nearing  the  Trinity  River,  change  into 
more  and  more  open  woods  composed  almost  entirely  of 
oak.  From  the  Trinity  westward  these  oak  woods  grow 
more  and  more  scrubby;  the  finest  lands  are  prairies, 
and  the  forest  is  restricted  to  the  stretches  of  sandy  lands 
known  as  the  Cross  Timbers. 

After  crossing  the  Brazos  River,  west  of  Graham,  the 
forests  are  reduced  to  patches  in  the  river  bottoms,  and 
the  broad  fertile  lands  are  either  treeless  prairie  or  mes- 
quite  openings,  where  scattering  bushes  of  the  thorny 
mesquite  help  to  relieve  the  monotony. 


FIG.  13.     Too  Dry  for  Forest 

Chaparral  of  scattering  scrub  or  scrub  woods  in  San  Jacinto  Reserve,  California 

(After  Gannett) 
25 


26  FIBST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTKY 

The  sandy  ridges  following  the  Brazos,  Wichita,  and  other 
rivers  are  either  bare  or  scantily  dotted  with  thickets  or 
clumps  of  the  shrublike  shin  oak,  while  scattering,  bush- 
like  trees  of  red  cedar  dot  the  bluffs  of  the  rivers. 

Reaching  the  high  and  dry  plateau  of  the  Staked 
Plains  we  find  that  tree  growth  ceases;  the  mesquite  no 
longer  decorates  the  prairie,  and  the  sand  hills  of  these 
plains  are  desolate  wastes. 

We  have  made  a  long  journey  from  a  humid  country 
to  an  arid  one,  passing  through  many  intermediate  stages. 
Neither  soil,  altitude,  nor  the  temperature  factor  of  the 
climate  has  changed  materially,  and  yet  we  have  passed 
from  a  dense  and  stately  forest  of  pine  through  oak  and 
mesquite  openings  into  bare  prairie  and  sand  waste. 

The  great  difference  in  the  amount  of  moisture  alone 
is  responsible  for  these  remarkable  changes.  Had  we 
started  from  Duluth,  Minn.,  and  gone  west  or  southwest, 
our  experience  would  have  been  similar.  First,  long 
stretches  of  pineries,  in  which  white  and  Norway  pine 
often  predominate ;  then,  rather  suddenly,  oak,  or  else 
poplar  and  oak  openings ;  and,  within  a  few'  hours'  ride 
by  train,  jthe  open  treeless  prairies. 

This  transition  from  the  humid  forests  to  the  drier 
prairie  regions  is  very  similar  from  Texas  clear  to  our 
northern  boundary,  and  everywhere  it  is  caused  by  the 
lack  of  rain  and  snow,  which  appears  to  be  the  principal, 
if  not  the  only,  cause  of  the  fading  out  of  the  forest. 


THE   W1LDWOODS 


27 


At  first  it  culls  the  forest  and  reduces  the  number  of  kinds 
of  trees, — the  elm,  the  ash,  the  bass  wood,  etc.,  drop  out,  and 
the  forest  is  finally  reduced  to  open  stands  of  scrubby  oak. 
Where  the  moisture  becomes  scarcer  still  these  scrub  woods 
become  more  dwarfed,  and  soon  the  forest  ceases  altogether. 
Lack  of  moisture  then  reduces  the  number  of  species ;  it 
stunts  and,  if  extreme,  it  prevents  forest  growth  altogether. 


FIG.  14.     Too  Much  Water  kills 
Timber  killed  by  water  backed  up  by  state  dam  in  Adirondacks.     (After  Fox) 

Thus,  a  lack  of  moisture  acts  like  a  poor,  sandy  soil,  and 
wherever  these  two  combine  the  effect  is  all  the  greater. 
Let  us  now  see  what  too  much  moisture  does.  When 
the  lumbermen  in  our  northern  forests  dam  up  a  stream 
to  store  water  for  driving  purposes,  they  select  some  large 
flat,  where  a  pond  of  considerable  extent  is  produced  by 
the  dam,  In  such  a  place  large  numbers  of  trees,  which 


28  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

so  far  have  been  growing  on  dry  land,  are  now  made 
to  stand  in  water ;  and  in  almost  all  cases  they  die,  even 
if  the  dam  is  closed  for  but  a  few  months  of  the  year. 
Evidently  these  forest  trees  do  not  endure  immersion  of 
their  roots ;  too  much  water  kills  them. 

In  the  valleys,  or  "  bottoms,"  of  the  Santee  and  other 
rivers  of  the  South,  floods  or  freshets  are  produced  by 
heavy  rains  in  the  mountains  at  the  heads  of  these 
streams.  Where  we  can  walk  dry-footed  to-day  we  can 
boat  on  ten  feet  of  water  to-morrow.  These  freshets  last 
from  one  to  three  weeks  and,  during  this  time,  cover 
entirely  all  young  trees  not  tall  enough  to  project  above 
the  water.  And  yet  the  forests  of  these  bottoms  are 
among  the  most  luxuriant;  there  are  many  kinds  of 
trees,  and  the  trees  grow  to  large  size. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  in  these  fertile  bottoms  of  the 
South  many  different  kinds  of  trees  and  shrubs  have 
learned  to  endure  periodical,  complete  or  partial  immer- 
sion of  several  weeks  duration. 

The  hundreds  of  large  and  small  swamps  of  our  north- 
ern forests  are  generally  stocked  with  forests  of  tamarack, 
cedar,  and  occasionally  spruce.  Generally  these  cedar  and 
tamarack  swamps  are  monotonous ;  the  trees  are  small, 
the  stands  dense.  The  cedar  swamps  of  New  Jersey,  the 
numerous  cypress  swamps  of  the  Carolinas,  Florida,  and 
the  Gulf  States  resemble  our  northern  swamps,  except  that 
we  have  here  a  different  set  of  trees  and  trees  of  larger 


THE   WILDWOODS 


29 


size.  In  some  of  the  "greenings  "  or  white  cedar  swamps 
the  soil  is  a  soft  mud,  and  the  trees  gain  a  support  or 
hold  chiefly  from  the  general  network  of  roots.  In  the 
Dismal  Swamp  and  the  great  Okefinokee  a  large  portion 


FIG.  15.     Used  to  Water  (Cypress  about  Lake  Norris,  Florida) 

of  the  land  is  constantly  under  water,  and  these  swamps 
have  more  the  appearance  of  grassy  lakes. 

Stretches  of  these  swamps  are  entirely  bare  of  trees 
and  take  on  the  regular  ]ake  character,  while  other  por- 
tions appear  like  overflowed  marsh  lands,  dotted  with 
so-called  "  houses,"  or  small  clusters  of  gnarly  cypress 
festooned  with  long  streamers  of  Spanish  moss,  which 
help  to  emphasize  their  weird,  fantastic  appearance. 


30  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

In  swamps  like  the  Chessahowiska  of  western  Florida, 
where  a  warm  climate  and  a  supply  of  lime  in  the  water- 
soaked  earth  assist  the  plants  in  withstanding  the  diffi- 
culties of  too  much  water,  the  forest  is  often  one  of  great 
variety,  consisting  of  a  mixture  of  red  cedar,  oak,  bass- 
wood,  yellow  poplar,  and  ash,  together  with  palm  and 
yucca,  and  the  trees  display  a  considerable  degree  of  thrift. 

These  facts  lead  us  to  believe  that  wet  soils,  like  dry 
soils,  tend  to  reduce  the  number  of  kinds  of  trees,  and  that 
this  effect  is  greater  wherever  a  cold  climate  adds  to  the 
difficulty.  It  also  indicates  that  in  colder  countries  the 
monotonous  woods  of  the  swamp  lands  are  simpler  in 
their  make-up,  and  stunted  in  their  growth;  but  that  the 
swamp  forests  of  warmer  districts  do  not  generally  share 
this  stunted  character,  since,  for  instance,  the  cypress  of 
the  southern  swamps  is  among  the  largest  timber  of  the 
eastern  half  of  our  country. 

In  the  Puget  Sound  country,  where  it  rains  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  and  where  clouds,  fog,  and  mist  shut  out 
the  sun  and  prevent  the  trees  from  giving  off  much  water 
from  their  leaves  and  twigs,  we  find  some  of  the  densest, 
stateliest  forests  of  the  world.  They  are  composed  of 
red  fir,  hemlock,  cedar,  and  balsam ;  the  trees  grow  rapidly 
and  reach  unusual  size.  A  well-drained,  porous  soil  and 
a  very  moist,  cool  atmosphere  are  evidently  conducive  to 
the  best  tree  growth.  But  even  here  it  is  rather  remark- 
able that  the  conifers  prevail. 


THE   WILDWOODS 


31 


On  the  whole,  then,  we  see  that  most  of  our  trees  require 
a  moderate  amount  of  moisture  in  the  soil  and  in  the  air, 


FIG.  16.     Cypress  Swamp 

The  short  stumplike  structures  projecting  out  of  the  water  are  the 
"cypress  knees,"  peculiar  outgrowths  from  the  roots  of  these 
trees,  apparently  dependent  on  the  wet  surroundings 


and  that  too  much  as  well  as  too  little  water  is  fatal  to 
most  of  them.     It  seems  also  that  drought  is  best  endured 


32  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

by  cedar,  pine,  and  oak,  while  the  swamp  lands  are  occu- 
pied mostly  by  conifers, — cedar,  tamarack,  and  spruce  in 
the  North ;  cedar  and  cypress  in  the  South, — and  that  the 
swamp  forests  of  cold  countries  are  more  monotonous  and 
more  stunted  than  those  of  warmer  districts. 

Having  seen  of  how  much  importance  moisture  is  to 
the  tree,  it  would  be  of  interest  to  learn  how  far  the  tree 
can  correct  any  deficiency, — to  what  extent  it  can  drain 
the  soil  of  surplus  water  or  induce  a  dry  soil  to  take  up 
and  hold  more  moisture.  Experience  and  observation 
seem  to  indicate  that  it  does  both. 

WHAT  HEAT  AND  COLD  DO  FOR  THE  WOODS 

Let  us  make  a  trip  from  the  northern  boundary  of  our 
country  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  see  how  the  forest 
differs  in  different  places  along  our  route,  keeping  in  mind, 
however,  that  we  must  compare  only  such  forests  as  are 
stocked  on  well-drained  lands  of  similar  soils. 

Along  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  where  long 
snowy  winters  and  short  frosty  summers  restrict  farm- 
ing to  the  raising  of  grass,  oats,  and  potatoes,  the  forest 
of  the  fertile  loam  and  clay  lands  consists  of  a  mixed 
stand  of  inferior  hardwoods  and  conifers.  The  hard- 
woods are  principally  birch,  maple,  elm,  and  basswood; 
the  conifers,  white  pine  and  hemlock.  Generally  there 
are  more  of  the  hardwoods  —  they  predominate;  but 


FIG.  17.     Palmetto 

(After  Piuchot) 

33 


34  FIEST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTEY 

occasionally  the  hemlock,  more  rarely  the  pine,  forms  the 
body  of  the  forest.  The  hardwoods  are  few  in  kind 
and  inferior  in  size  and  quality;  the  most  valuable  trees 
of  the  forest  are  the  conifers,  pine  and  hemlock. 

A  piece  of  virgin  forest  in  Indiana,  where  abundant 
crops  of  apples,  grapes,  and  peaches  indicate  a  milder 
climate,  is  usually  an  oak  wood,  heavily  mixed  with  a 
great  variety  of  other  broad-leaved  trees,  but  entirely 
without  coniferous  timber.  Here  we  meet  several  kinds 
of  oak,  hickory,  and  ash,  both  black  and  white  wal- 
nut, cherry,  basswood,  elm,  yellow  poplar,  sycamore,  and 
beech.  Moreover,  the  trees  are  tall,  with  long,  clear, 
heavy  shafts,  furnishing  the  choicest  lumber. 

In  eastern  Tennessee  or  western  North  Carolina  the 
warmer  climate  again  changes  our  forest  picture.  The 
yellow  poplar  and  chestnut  come  to  the  foreground; 
the  several  oaks  and  hickories,  a  few  magnolias,  the 
locusts,  catalpa,  mulberry,  red  gum,  and  others  swell  the 
list  of  common  species,  and  in  addition  the  conifers  reap- 
pear ;  the  forest  again  has  its  sprinkling  of  pine. 

Although  the  number  of  different  kinds  of  trees  has 
thus  been  increased,  the  forest  retains  its  general  appear- 
ance ;  it  is  a  fine,  stately  forest  of  hardwoods,  and  many 
an  acre  of  this  forest  could  not  be  distinguished  from 
similar  acres  of  our  Indiana  woods. 

Going  through  one  of  the  fine  "  hummocks  "  of  Florida, 
the  land  of  cotton,  the  orange,  and  pineapple,  where  snow 


THE   WILDWOODS  35 

and  ice  are  hardly  known  and  where  a  frost  is  a  general 
calamity,  we  are  struck  with  the  radical  change  in  the 
appearance  of  the  forest.  It  is  still  a  forest  of  hard- 
woods, —  there  are  live  oak,  red  and  white  oaks,  ash,  and 
gum,  — but  among  them  is  that  peculiar  tree  of  the  torrid 
lands,  the  palm  tree.  And  to  have  a  few  of  these  palms 
to  each  acre  is  enough  to  alter  entirely  the  aspect  of  the 
forest.  Usually  this  hummock  land  has  some  cypress 
and  red  cedar  with  a  few  scattering  pine ;  and  everywhere 
the  yucca  and  dwarf  palms  are  conspicuous  among  the 
undergrowth.  Our  forest  has  changed,  and  changed 
radically;  it  possesses  an  entirely  new  form,  a  new 
order  of  trees. 

Let  iis  review  our  trip.  In  the  icy  Lake  Superior 
region  the  forest  is  made  of  few  kinds;  the  conifers 
are  an  important  mixture  and  the  hardwood  trees  are 
stunted.  In  mild  Indiana  it  is  composed  of  hardwoods 
alone ;  the  variety  is  great ;  the  trees  are  large.  In  the 
warm  districts  of  the  southern  Alleghenies  the  variety 
is  still*  greater;  size  and  quality  are  equally  fine,  and 
conifers,  reappear ;  while  in  the  hot  climate  of  Florida 
the  variety  is  still  greater,  and  the  forest  takes  on  a 
subtropical  aspect  by  adding  the  palm. 

If  our  comparison  had  been  for  the  sand  lands  or  the 
swamps,  the  difference  would  have  been  much  less ; 
the  pinery  of  Florida  is  as  monotonous  as  that  of 
Minnesota. 


36  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

We  see  that  cold  affects  the  forest  just  as  do  a  poor 
soil  and  too  much  or  too  little  water.  It  simplifies 
the  composition  of  the  forest  and,  in  extreme  cases, 
stunts  its  growth.  But  we  also  observe  that  this 
effect  is  not  very  serious  within  the  borders  of  our 
land ;  that  our  most  important  hardwood  trees  extend 
far  north  and  south ;  and  that  the  effect  is  less  important- 
for  our  sandy  or  poorer  lands  than  for  more  fertile 
districts. 

Were  we  to  inquire  into  the  growth  and  behavior  of 
our  forest  trees  along  the  same  route  of  travel  north  and 
south,  we  should  find  the  effect  even  more  important. 
We  should  learn  that  oak  and  maple  in  Tennessee  sprout 
well ;  in  the  Lake  Superior  country,  with  difficulty ;  that 
most  trees  bear  seed  oftener  and  more  abundantly,  and 
that  young  growth  starts  more  easily,  grows  faster,  and 
stands  more  shade  in  warm  districts  than  in  cold.  Here 
and  there,  to  be  sure,  there  would  be  some  exceptions  to 
this  rule,  but  they  would  be  just  enough  to  emphasize  its 
general  truth. 

Having  learned  the  importance  of  warmth  and  sun- 
shine, we  realize  why,  in  our  northern  states,  the  forest 
on  the  south  side  of  a  ridge  often  differs  so  radically  from 
that  on  the  north  side.  It  is  the  warmth  and  light  of  the 
sunny  south  exposure  which  permits  a  greater  variety  of 
trees  and  banishes  the  frugal  conifers  to  the  colder,  darker 
north  side. 


THE   WILDWOODS  37 

Had  we  extended  our  journey  northward,  far  into  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  we  should  have  first  passed  through 
long  stretches  of  pineries  and  woods  of  spruce,  and  finally 
landed  in  openings  of  birch,  willow,  and  alder,  which  fade 
away  gradually  into  the  treeless  wastes  of  the  ever-frozen 
North. 

WOODS    AND    THE    MOUNTAINS 

We  have  all  read  and  heard,  and  some  of  us  have  had 
the  opportunity  to  witness,  that  the  climate  grows  colder 
as  we  ascend  a  mountain ;  so  that  if  the  mountain  is  very 
high  it  may  bear  ice  and  snow  all  through  summer,  though 
it  be  located  beneath  the  tropical  sun  of  Mexico  or  Peru. 

From  what  we  have  learned  concerning  the  influence 
of  cold  on  the  forest  cover  we  should  at  once  infer  that 
the  forest  differs  at  different  points  from  below  upward 
and  that  it  becomes  more  and  more  simple  in  its  compo- 
sition ;  more  and  more  stunted  toward  the  top  of  any  high 
mountain  range  or  peak ;  and  also  that  the  forests  of 
higher  mountains,  like  those  of  the  colder  northern  dis- 
tricts of  our  country,  are  composed  most  generally  of 
coniferous  trees. 

A  few  excursions  will  test  and  verify  these  conclusions. 

If  we  start  on  the  Raquette  River  in  the  Adirondack 
Mountains  of  New  York  to  go  up  to  the  top  of  Mount 
Seward,  we  are  at  first  about  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
sea  level,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  sandy  old  white  pine 


38  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

"  slash/'  surrounded  by  a  rather  inferior  mixed  growth  of 
hardwoods  and  conifers.  Yellow  birch  and  maple  predom- 
inate, and  spruce,  balsam,  cedar,  and  hemlock  make  up 
the  coniferous  portion.  Climbing  to  an  altitude  of  about 
twenty-four  hundred  feet,  we  find  that  yellow  birch  is 
largely  replaced  by  white  birch ;  the  maple  is  a  scrub ; 
and  the  spruce,  together  with  cedar,  forms  the  body  of  the 
forest.  As  we  ascend  farther  the  forest  becomes  more 
and  more  a  pure  stand  of  conifers ;  and,  finally,  on  reach- 
ing the  top,  at  an  altitude  of  about  forty-five  hundred 
feet,  we  pass  through  thickets  of  dwarf  balsam,  from  two 
to  five  feet  in  height,  which,  in  many  places,  form  such 
dense  mats  that  it  is  possible  to  use  the  canopy  of  this 
pigmy  forest  for  a  seat. 

Ascending  the  Alleghenies  of  North  Carolina,  beautiful 
hardwood  forests  accompany  us  up  to  an  altitude  of  about 
five  thousand  feet  ;  but  the  summits  of  all  the  peaks 
above  fifty-five  hundred  feet  are  clad  in  somber  forests  of 
spruce,  together  with  some  scattering  balsams. 

Fully  as  interesting  and  instructive  is  a  trip  up  to  the 
crest  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  of  Washington  from  the 
west  side.  Following  up  the  valley  of  the  Cowlitz  Elver 
we  pass  through  dense  forests  of  the  giant  red  fir,  cedar, 
and  hemlock.  Reaching  an  altitude  of  about  two  thou- 
sand feet,  we  find  the  hemlock  becomes  more  abundant, 
and  the  red  fir  recedes  and  is  replaced  by  the  mountain 
balsam.  At  an  altitude  of  about  thirty-five  hundred  feet 


s  i 


- 

2.     S 


39 


40  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

the  red  fir  disappears,  and  the  forest  is  one  of  balsam  and 
hemlock  with  cedar.  As  we  reach  a  height  of  five  thou- 
sand feet  the  complexion  of  the  forest  changes  entirely ; 
the  dense  forest  of  tall  mountain  balsam  and  hemlock 
suddenly  gives  way  to  open,  more  or  less  interrupted 
alpine  park  woods,  composed  of  short,  limby  trees  belong- 
ing to  entirely  different  species,  the  alpine  balsam  and 
hemlock. 

Thus,  we  see  that  our  inference  was  correct :  the  high 
mountain  woods  of  our  country  are  generally  conifers, 
composed  of  few  species,  and  are  usually  more  or  less 
stunted  at  higher  altitudes.  Similarly  these  woods  change 
from  below  upwards,  decreasing  in  complexity  of  compo- 
sition as  well  as  in  size  and  quality  of  the  timber;  and 
their  vigor,  or  rate  of  growth  and  capacity  to  maintain 
and  renew  themselves,  also  decreases. 


PART  II 
FO11EST11Y 


RAISING   OR   KEEPING   UP  THE   FOREST 

WE  have  learned  something  of  different  woods,  of  their 
appearance  knd  composition,  and  how  they  are  modified 
by  different  climates,  soils,  and  other  conditions.  We  are 
now  ready  to  see  what  man  does  with  the  forest. 

When  the  pioneer  settler  in  the  backwoods  clears  his 
farm  he  is  anxious  to  destroy  the  forest  as  fast  as  possible, 
for  every  acre  of  "  clear  land  "  is  a  big  step  toward  inde- 
pendence. In  many  places,  especially  of  late  years,  he 
has  been  able  to  sell  at  least  the  better  kinds  of  logs ;  but 
in  the  most  cases,  now  as  formerly,  the  wood  is  wasted. 
The  trees  are  cut  into  pieces  small  enough  to  handle  and 
the  neighbors  are  invited  to  a  "log  rolling";  they  pile 
up  the  logs" and  branches  into  "  log  heaps,"  and  when  the 
weather  is  suitable  these  log  heaps  are  set  afire.  Fire 
and  plow  prevent  the  return  of  the  forest. 

This  is  not  forestry;  it  is  proper  forest  destruction, 
such  as  goes  on  in  the  settlement  of  every  forest-covered 
country.  The  forest  gives  way  to  the  field. 

41 


42 


FIBST   BOOK   OF   FOBESTBY 


When  the  lumbermen  cut  the  spruce  in  many  parts  of 
our  eastern  states,  or  the  white  pine  in  the  hardwoods  of 
Michigan  or  Wisconsin,  they  disturb  the  forest  so  little 
that  only  the  experienced  eye  notices  the  fact  that  the 


i , 


\ 


m 


FIG.  19  a.     Coppice  Woods 
(After  Graves) 

land  has  been  "  logged  over."  On  the  sandier  "  pinery  " 
lands,  where  the  forest  is  nearly  all  pine,  the  case  is 
quite  different.  Here  the  lumberman  usually  leaves  a 


RAISING  OK  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST 


43 


"  slash."  Most  of  the  forest  is  gone  ;  a  few  young  trees, 
some  worthless  cripples,  and  a  small  number  of  isolated 
stunted  hardwoods  still  maintain  the  semblance  of  woods ; 
while  the  ground  is  densely  strewn  with  the  tops  of  the 


FIG.  19  b.     Coppice  Woods 
(After  Graves) 

fallen  pine.  In  one  or  two  seasons  these  tops  are  dry; 
they  take  fire  from  some  cause  or  other,  the  slash  burns 
over,  and  instead  of  the  former  forest  there  is  now  a 
waste,  which  may  remain  in  this  unproductive  condition 


44  FIRST   BOOK   OF  FORESTRY 

for  many  years.  Generally  the  lumberman  does  not  con- 
cern himself  in  either  case  about  the  forest  or  slash  he 
leaves  behind ;  his  business  is  to  get  out  of  the  forest 
whatever  he  can  utilize  or  sell ;  he  treats  it  as  a  ripe 
field;  he  harvests,  —  but  he  does  not  sow.  He  does  not 
intentionally  destroy  any  forest ;  he  merely  harvests,  but 
does  not  care  for  and  protect  it,  and  thus  make  an  effort 
to  keep  up  the  forest  and  to  grow  a  new  crop  of  timber. 
For  this  reason,  and  to  the  extent  that  he  fails  in  this,  he 
is  not  a  forester. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  farmer  who  has  a  piece  of  wood- 
land, where,  during  the  winter  months  he  cuts  his  firewood 
and  fencing  and  a  few  logs  for  the  repair  of  buildings  and 
implements,  and  during  certain  years,  when  prices  are 
high,  cuts  some  logs  for  the  neighboring  sawmill,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  looks  after  the  piece  of  woods,  cleans  it 
of  dead  timber  and  other  rubbish,  thus  keeping  out  fire 
and  insects,  and  otherwise  makes  an  effort  to  keep  the 
land  covered  with  forest,  —  such  a  man  practiced/or estry. 
His  forest  may  be  small  or  large,  his  ways  of  doing  may 
be  simple  and  imperfect,  so  that  his  woods  do  not  contain 
as  many  trees  as  they  should ;  the  trees  may  not  be  the 
best  kinds  for  the  particular  locality  and  soil ;  they  may 
not  be  as  thrifty  as  they  should  and  could  be ;  but  never- 
theless here  is  a  man  who  does  not  merely  destroy  the 
woods,  nor  content  himself  with  cutting  down  whatever 
he  can  sell,  but  one  who  cares  for  the  woods  as  well  as 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  45 

uses  them,  one  who  sows  as  well  as  harvests.  He  is  a  for- 
ester, and  his  work  in  the  woods  is  forestry.  Since  his 
forest  is  small,  the  work  is  simpler,  and  it  will  be  a  good 
opportunity  to  learn  how  he  cares  for  the  woods;  for 
trees  start  and  grow  in  just  the  same  way,  whether  in 
small  or  large  forests. 

COPPICE  WOODS 

Here  is  a  piece  of  wildwoods  in  one  of  the  picturesque 
valleys  of  northern  New  Jersey.  The  soil  is  loam,  very 
rocky,  and  with  too  many  large  rocks  on  top  of  the  ground 
to  encourage  its  use  for  plowland.  The  woods,  mostly 
chestnut  and  oak,  appear  rather  scrubby,  and  we  miss  the 
large  stately  trees  of  the  virgin  forest ;  there  appear  to  be 
no  old  trees,  and  nearly  all  trees  seem  to  be  in  clusters 
about  old  and  much  disfigured  stumps.  Evidently  they 
started  as  sprouts  —  but  here  comes  a  native  who  can  tell 
us  more  about  this  : 

"  Yes,  this  is  an  old  settled  district,  and  the  old  woods 
were  cut  down  more  than  a  century  ago.  Since  then 
these  woods  were  cut  over  several  times.  Formerly, 
when  firewood  was  much  in  demand  for  iron  furnaces, 
the  woods  were  cut  over  about  every  twenty  years,  but  of 
late  we  leave  the  trees  to  grow  larger,  so  that  they  make 
good  railroad  ties  and  telegraph  poles,  besides  firewood, 
and  this  requires  that  they  be  at  least  thirty-five  or  forty 


46  FIEST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

years  old.  But  still  this  does  not  make  large  trees,  and 
thus  our  coppice  woods  look  young  and  small  compared 
with  old  virgin  woods. 

"  Yes,  we  use  chestnut  and  oak  mostly,  but  that  is  only 
because  they  were  here  and  nobody  cared  to  try  any 
others.  We  cut  usually  in  winter,  the  best  time  being 
about  February  or  just  before  spring  opens,  because  then 
the  stumps  make  the  best  sprouts,  and  sprout  immediately, 
so  that  a  good  growth  takes  place  that  very  season.  If 
we  cut  in  the  fall  or  early  winter,  many  of  the  stumps 
suffer  from  the  weather;  and  before  they  are  ready  to 
sprout  are  injured  and,  therefore,  make  fewer  and  weaker 
sprouts. 

"How  much  do  we  get  per  acre?  That  of  course 
depends  on  the  age  and  condition  of  the  woods  and  the 
quality  of  the  site  [soil,  exposure,  etc.]. 

"Generally  we  count  on  a  cord  per  acre  and  year, 
so  that  a  thirty-year-old  stand  should  furnish  thirty 
cords  per 'acre.  From  such  a  stand  we  should  get  about 
a  hundred  good  telegraph  poles,  or  else  about  three  hun- 
dred railroad  ties,  besides  about  fifteen  cords  of  firewood. 
For  the  poles  we  get  four  to  five  dollars,  and  for  ties 
perhaps  fifty  cents  each;  but  firewood  brings  only  about 
three  dollars  per  cord  delivered." 

Let  us  now  walk  into  the  woods  and  see  what  we  can 
learn.  Everywhere  we  see  that  both  oak  and  chestnut, 
but  particularly  the  latter,  are  excellently  well  suited  to 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST 


47 


this  kind  of  treatment ;  that  their  stumps  furnish  an 
abundance  of  sprouts ;  that  the  sprouts  grow  fast,  and 
always  much  faster  than  young  trees 
started  from  the  seed.  Of  seedling 
trees  we  see  but  few,  and  none  at 
all  in  the  denser  parts  of  the  woods. 

But,  though  the  woods  are  fairly 
good,  there  are  several  things  here 
which  might  be  improved  by  a  little 
more  care.  In  the  first  place,  we 
notice  open  spots  ten  or  fifteen  yards 
across,  where  grass  and  weeds  cover 
the  ground  together  with  a  few  iso- 
lated trees  of  red  cedar.  Apparently 
the  forest  gave  out  and  the  stumps 
ceased  to  sprout.  Perhaps  they  were 
too  old  or  else  had  been  burned,  or 
possibly  cattle  kept  the  sprouts  down 
by  eating  off  the  leaves  and  thus 
killed  the  stumps,  for,  as  we  have 
learned  before,  the  stump  can  live 
only  if  it  has  leaves  to  prepare 
food  for  its  cells.  Such  spots  are 
unproductive ;  they  are  neither  good  pasture  nor  forest. 

In  the  woods  we  notice  that  some  of  the  stumps  have 
too  many  sprouts,  that  these  crowd  each  other,  some  are 
dead  and  others  are  stunted  by  their  neighbors.  Evidently 


FIG.  20.     Stump  and 
Sprouts 


48  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FOKESTRY 

cutting  out  the  weaker  would  have  helped  the  better  trees, 
for  the  poor  cripples  use  up  water  and  soil-food  and  yet 
are  unable  to  make  trees. 

The  stumps,  we  see,  .were  not  always  cut  with  care. 
Many  of  them  are  too  high ;  part  of  the  bark  has  dropped 
off,  and  the  stump  is  partly  dry.  Others  are  flat  on  top, 
some  even  slant  in  (see  Fig.  21),  and  many  are  rough,  all 
holding  the  rain  water,  and  with  this  the  spores  (seeds)  of 
fungi,  which  will  cause  decay. 

Note  also  that  many  of  these  stumps  are  too  old  to  make 
good  sprouts ;  they  are  much  decayed,  and  the  few  young 
trees  they  produce  have  a  poor  support.  They  should  be 
replaced ;  there  is  need  for  new  stumps. 

Let  us  think  over  what  we  have  learned  about  coppice 
woods.  Since  we  can  use  only  trees  which  sprout  well, 
we  cannot  raise  pine,  spruce,  and  other  conifers  in  this 
way.  As  most  trees  in  coppice  woods  should  be  cut  before 
they  are  forty  years  old,  preferably  when  twenty  or  thirty 
years  old,  these  woods  cannot  furnish  large  trees,  such  as 
would  be  needed  for  saw-logs  to  make  boards  for  houses 
and  furniture.  As  to  the  work  itself,  we  see  that  it  is 
quite  simple.  If  a  man  had  sixty  acres  of  coppice  woods 
and  wanted  to  cut  some  fuel  and  other  timber  every 
winter,  he  might  cut  two  acres  every  year,  and  in  this 
way  cut  the  entire  sixty-acre  tract  in  thirty  years.  By 
that  time  the  two  acres  first  cut  would  be  thirty  years  old 
and  ready  for  the  ax,  and  thus  the  cutting  might  go  on 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  49 

indefinitely.  In  his  work  he  should  take  care  to  cut  at  the 
right  time  of  the  year  (late  winter) ;  to  cut  the  stumps 
low  and  smooth,  with  the  slant  to  the  outside ;  to  leave 
some  of  the  smaller  useless  trees  for  the  protection  of  the 


FIG.  21.     The  Wrong  Way  to  cut  the  Stumps 


FIG.  22.     The  Right  Way  to  cut  the  Stumps 


ground  and  young  shoots.  He  would  naturally  fill  all 
bare  spots  with  young  trees,  and  would  thin  out  the 
poorer  sprouts  when  the  stand  is  about  ten  years  old, 
using  the  material  thus  cut  for  firewood.  The  old 


50  FIRST   BOOK   OF  FORESTRY 

stumps,  after  they  had  furnished  three  crops  of  trees, 
would  be  replaced  by  young  trees,  which  he  would  start 
by  planting  from  a  little  nursery  in  his  garden,  or  by  sow- 
ing acorns  and  chestnuts  on  the  newly  cleared  parts  of 
this  woodland.  In  this  way  he  could  cut  at  least  two 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  ties  and  poles  each  year,  and 
have  more  firewood  than  he  would  need  on  his  farm. 

Looking  .over  the  list  of  trees  which  have  been  used  as 
coppice,  we  find  that  it  is  not  large  and  that  the  following 
are  the  important  ones :  chestnut,  oak,  black  locust,  ash, 
elm,  maple,  beech,  birch ;  and  where  a  light  wood  is  used 
for  paper  pulp,  etc.,  basswood,  poplar,  and  willow  may  be 
used.  This  list  would  also  indicate  that  a  good  coppice 
growth  is  possible  in  the  greater  portion  of  the  eastern 
United  States ;  that  it  fares  well  only  in  temperate  and 
warm  climates,  and  on  fairly  good  soil. 

In  Europe,  especially  in  France,  the  coppice  system  is 
very  common,  and  rather  preferred  in  the  smaller  forests 
of  private  owners  and  villagers.  Generally  the  trees  are 
cut  when  fifteen  to  twenty-five  years  old.  The  trees  of 
oak  coppice  are  cut  in  summer  and  the  bark  is  peeled, 
dried,  and  sold  to  tanners,  so  that  these  woods  are  raised 
really  as  much  for  the  bark  as  for  the  wood,  and  are 
called  tan-bark  coppice. 

When  the  cutting  in  coppice  woods  is  so  regulated 
that  the  trees  are  about  thirty  years  old  when  cut,  we  call 
this  period  of  thirty  years  the  rotation,  and  we  say  that 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  51 

the  coppice  is  managed  on  a  thirty-year  rotation.  Rota- 
tion in  this  sense  simply  means  the  age  of  the  trees  when 
the  woods  are  cut  down,  and  does  not  mean,  as  in  farming, 
a  certain  succession  of  different  kinds  of  crops,  such  as  wheat, 
corn,  oats,  and  clover,  to  be  repeated  in  the  same  order. 

The  fact  that  in  the  northern  pineries  the  burned-over 
slash  lands  are  commonly  covered  by  a  growth  of  young 
poplar  or  aspen,  and  not  by  pine,  has  led  some  of  the 
woodsmen  of  those  regions  to  believe  that  there  existed  a 
natural  rotation  of  forest  crops  resembling  the  rotation  of 
farm  crops ;  that  pine  could  not  follow  pine,  but  that 
poplar  and  pine  always  alternated  with  each  other.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  poplar  covers  these  " burns"  because 
all  through  these  pineries  there  is  produced  every  year  an 
abundance  of  poplar  seed.  Being  extremely  light,  it  is 
carried  by  the  wind  for  miles  and  thus  covers  the  burns. 
Moreover,  the  seeds  of  poplar  and  birch  are  the  only  tree 
seeds  which  are  at  once  strewn  abundantly  over  the  burns, 
and  both,  especially  that  of  the  poplar,  do  well  on  this 
freshly  burned-over  land.  Thus  it  comes  that  the  poplar 
and  birch  thickets  are  the  first  to  reclothe  these  burns. 

We  have  learned  that  in  European  coppice  woods  the 
rotation  is  generally  about  fifteen  to  twenty-five  years, 
and,  therefore,  shorter  than  that  of  the  ordinary  New 
Jersey  coppice,  which  is  usually  thirty  or  forty  years  ;  and 
that  it  is  generally  not  advisable  to  make  the  rotation  in 
coppice  much  longer  than  forty  years,  even  for  oak,  which 


52  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

endures  longest;  while  for  poplar,  birch,  and  willow  it 
should  not  be  over  twenty-five  years. 

Since  large  trees  are  not  furnished  by  the  coppice  woods, 
and  since  it  is  often  desirable  and  profitable  to  raise  larger 
trees  for  timber  and  lumber,  many  people  have  modified 
their  coppice  in  this  way. 

Suppose  our  farmer  has  sixty  acres  of  coppice  and  cuts 
about  two  acres  each  year.  Instead  of  cutting  all  trees 
he  leaves  standing  on  each  acre  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
of  the  very  best  trees.  These  trees  go  on  growing  and 
are  cut  thirty  years  later,  so  that  they  live  through  two 
rotations  of  the  coppice  woods.  By  that  time  they  are 
sixty  years  old  and  of  considerable  size.  These  we  call 
standards  and  this  kind  of  coppice  woods  a  standard  cop- 
pice. Sometimes  the  standards  are  not  all  cut  down  at 
the  end  of  the  second  rotation,  but  some  are  left  for  a 
third  or  even  a  fourth  rotation,  and  thus  get  to  be  quite 
large.  But  it  is  usual  to  cut  part  of  the  standards  each 
time  the  particular  piece  of  woods  is  cut  over. 

Since  too  much  shade  would  hinder  the  starting  as  well 
as  the  growth  of  the  sprouts,  the  trees  left  over  for  stand- 
ards at  any  one  time  should  not  shade  more  than  about 
one  third  to  one  fourth  of  the  ground.  Usually  a  thirty- 
year-old  tree  in  good  coppice  woods  has  a  crown  covering 
about  fifty  to  a  hundred  square  feet,  and  it  nearly  doubles 
this  every  thirty  years.  Since  an  acre  has  43,560  square 
feet,  and  about  a  fourth  may  be  covered  by  the  standards, 


RAISING  OK  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOKEST          53 

we  might  leave  about  a  hundred  thirty-year-old  trees  of 
the  larger  size. 

In  an  oak  and  chestnut  coppice  it  is  well  to  use  largely 
these  two  kinds  for  standards,  since  in  this  way  they  will 
seed  the  ground  and  thus  furnish  new  stumps.  Generally 
it  is  better  to  use  trees  which  have  started  from  seed  or 
have  been  planted  to  fill  out  gaps  or  fail  places ;  but  good 
trees  from  young  stumps  answer  very  well.  Among  the 
broad-leaved  kinds  chestnut,  oak,  elm,  ash,  hickory,  and 
walnut  make  good  standards ;  but  beech  and  maple  make 
too  dense  a  shade. 


THE  ORDINARY  TIMBER  FOREST 

In  southern  Michigan  we  see  many  tracts  of  the  ordi- 
nary broadleaf  forest,  such  as  formerly  covered  Indiana, 
Ohio,  and  a  large  portion  of  our  eastern  states.  The 
climate  of  southern  Michigan  is  temperate,  even  mild; 
the  grapevine  and  peach  tree  thrive ;  the  soil  is  largely 
drift  material,  —  earth  and  stone  believed  to  have  been 
carried  by  ancient  glaciers ;  while  fertile,  it  is  sometimes 
very  stony,  being  generally  strewn  with  bowlders.  The 
forest  is  composed  of  oaks,  —  both  red  oaks  and  white 
oaks,  —  elm,  ash,  hickory,  basswood,  beech,  and  other 
broad-leaved  kinds  (hardwoods)  in  irregular  mixture,  with 
the  oaks  usually  predominant.  Most  of  the  trees  seem 
to  be  large,  old  veterans. 


54  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Here  is  a  piece  of  woods  with  a  beautiful  border  of 
beech,  low-cro.wned  blue  beech,  mixed  with  elm,  and 
maple,  and  a  fringe  of  hazel,  dogwood,  and  other  shrubs. 
The  whole  border  is  so  dense  that  it  seems  as  if  it  might 
shut  out  all  visitors,  as  well  as  the  injurious  drying  winds. 
Let  us  enter.  They  are  very  stately  old  woods  and  remind 
us  of  the  virgin  forest  we  visited  some  time  ago.  But 
there  are  many  things  changed  after  all,  and  the  hand  of 
man  is  clearly  visible.  There  is  no  dead  and  fallen  tim- 
ber ;  it  is  all  cleared  away,  evidently  taken  home  for 
firewood.  Nor  do  we  notice  here  any  old  crippled  trees, 
nor  any  of  the  greedy  spreading  ones  which  want  a  whole 
acre  to  themselves.  No  doubt  they  were  here  at  one  time, 
but  all  have  been  cut  out  and  used  up.  Right  here  we 
see  a  fine  old  mixed  stand  of  mature  timber,  probably 
every  tree  over  a  hundred  years  old.  They  are  still 
thrifty,  but  their  shade  is  too  dense  for  any  young  trees 
to  start.  Let  us  walk  on.  Why,  here  is  a  park  !  Every- 
thing looks  clean  and  neat,  the  stand  is  rather  open, 
nearly  everything  except  the  maple  has  been  cut  out,  and 
there  are  regular  paths  in  all  directions.  Note  the  many 
auger  holes  in  the  trees ;  this  is  a  "  sugar  bush."  The 
farmer,  finding  the  maple  predominant  in  this  part  of  his 
woods,  cleared  out  much  of  the  elm,  oak,  and  other  kinds 
to  give  the  maple  more  room.  He  also  cleaned  up  more 
perfectly  to  make  his  work  in  sap-gathering  time  more 
convenient. 


I: 


>    CfQ 


66 


56  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

There  are  a  good  many  small  saplings  of  maple ;  evi- 
dently this  opening  up  of  the  dense  woods  stimulated 
reproduction ;  the  trees  bore  more  seeds,  and  young  trees 
found  light  and  air  to  live.  Some  of  the  young  stuff  he 
has  cut  out  and  has  left  only  the  best.  They  will  be 
fine  sugar  trees  when  his  son  takes  the  farm. 

Here  we  come  into  a  different  stand.  The  trees  are 
mostly  poles  (less  than  twelve  inches  in  diameter),  and 
must  have  started  some  thirty  years  ago.  The  large 
stumps  of  the  old  mother  trees  are  rotten  and  covered 
with  moss.  Notice  the  many  small  stumps ;  evidently 
there  has  been  some -thinning  done. 

Here  is  a  thicket  of  bushy  young  trees,  three  to  ten 
feet  high  and  standing  rather  crowded.  The  old  stumps, 
just  beginning  to  decay,  seem  about  ten  or  twelve  years 
old,  and  a  few  old  trees  are  still  left  here.  They  need 
cutting  out,  for  the  young  trees  need  the  light. 

Here  is  a  piece  where  the  owner  has  cut  timber  during 
the  last  few  years.  He  seems  to  have  picked  out  (selected) 
the  largest  trees  or  those  which  stand  too  close  to  others 
and  thereby  hinder  them  in  their  growth.  He  has  not, 
however,  cleared  out  any  large  piece,  but  merely  picked 
out  a  tree  here  and  there,  and  thus  kept  the  forest  intact 
and  the  ground  nearly  all  covered  or  shaded,  so  that  grass 
and  weeds  rarely  get  a  chance  to  start.  Going  over  the 
entire  sixty-acre  piece,  we  find  that  the  man  has  cleared 
up  and  cut  and  thinned  out  everywhere-  that  he  cut 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOKEST  57 

considerable  timber  about  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  but 
that  he  has  since  then  been  more  frugal.  Let  us  go  over 
to  where  he  is  plowing  and  ask  him  something  about  it. 

"Am  glad  to  tell  you  all  I  can.  I  came  here  about 
thirty-five  years  ago ;  the  farm  was  in  bad  shape,  and  the 
first  winter  I  cut  a  lot  of  logs  for  fencing,  where  you  saw 
that  young  growth  you  speak  of.  Since  then  I  have  been 
cutting  wood  and  timber  for  my  own  use  every  winter, 
and  now  and  then  a  little  to  sell.  Ten  years  ago  I  cut  a 
large  amount  for  the  sawmill;  sleighing  was  good  and 
prices  rather  high.  For  firewood  I  cut  everything,  and 
if  it  does  not  make  four-foot  wood,  it  is  cut  sixteen  to 
twenty-four  inches  long  and  split  to  suit  the  people.  In 
this  way  I  have  cleaned  up  pretty  much  all  through  the 
piece.  For  the  rest  I  merely  pick  out  where  the  timber 
stands  too  close. 

"  Of  course  I  can  raise  all  kinds  of  timber,  for  the 
trees  do  not  have  to  sprout  and  I  can  cut  them  at  what- 
ever age  I  choose.  So  far  I  have  been  careless.  Except 
in  my  sugar  bush,  where  I  want  as  pure  a  stand  of  maple 
as  possible,  I  have  let  them  come  in  as  they  would. 

"  In  the  future  I  am  going  to  do  differently  and  cut  out 
more  of  the  kinds  I  wish  to  get  rid  of,  thus  favoring 
those  kinds,  like  oak,  which  are  of  more  value  to  me. 
I  intend  also  to  plant  some  conifers,,  most  likely  some 
white  pine,  as  this  does  well  hereabouts.  How  do  I  get 
a  new  growth  started  ?  Well,  so  far  I  have  done  nothing 


58  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

but  to  let  it  start  as  it  would.  The  large  tree  is  cut  down 
and  removed ;  this  gives  a  small  opening  in  which  young 
growth  starts,  the  seed,  of  course,  coming  from  the  trees 
left  behind.  In  this  way  I  open  up  new  spots  every  year. 
How  old  do  I  let  them  grow  ?  No  particular  age  ;  I  take 
them  whenever  it  suits  me ;  but,  on  the  whole,  I  like  to 
let  the  sound,  thrifty  trees  (dominant  trees)  reach  a  good 
size,  say  about  eighteen  inches  in  diameter  or  more,  before 
I  cut  them  down.  Just  how  much  wood  is  growing  per 
acre  on  my  land  I  could  not  tell  you,  nor  do  I  know 
whether  I  am  cutting  more  or  less  than  is  growing  here. 
Of  course  if  I  cut  more,  I  reduce  my  wood  capital ;  if  I 
cut  less,  I  increase  it.  So  far  I  have  probably  cut  less 
than  the  growth." 

We  have  here,  then,  a  timber  forest ;  one  in  which  the 
trees  usually  start  from  seed  and  not  as  sprouts,  where 
all  kinds  of  trees  may  be  raised  which  the  climate  and 
soil  permit,  and  where  the  trees  may  be  cut  at  any  age. 
The  procedure  is  quite  simple.  Every  year  the  farmer 
goes  over  part  of  the  woods  and  selects  such  trees  as  suit 
his  purpose  and  such  trees  as  need  cutting  out  to  better 
the  woods.  It  is  a  process  of  selection,  and  the  woods  so 
managed  is  a  selection  forest. 

Since  it  furnishes  many  different  kinds  and  sizes,  and 
since  it  is  so  simple  and  natural  a  way  of  using  and  treat- 
ing the  woods,  this  selection  method  is  well  suited  to  many 
forests.  It  is  the  best  and  often  the  only  safe  way  for 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  59 

mountain  woods,  where  forests  are  difficult  to  start  if 
once  cleared  away ;  it  is  the  best  way  of  treating  the  for- 
est border  to  keep  it  close  and  dense ;  and  it  is  an  excel- 
lent way  wherever  the  forest  is  small  and  the  owner  can 
go  over  it  often,  so  that  he  knows  all  parts  and  can  pick 
out,  or  select,  with  proper  care  and  knowledge. 

In  all  cases  he  should  see  to  it  that  the  ground  is  cov- 
ered with  the  right  kinds  of  trees;  he  should  cut  out 
those  kinds  which  do  not  sell,  or  grow  too  slowly,  or 
never  grow  large.  What  the  right  kinds  are  depends 
on  the  land.  On  the  better  kinds  of  soil  in  a  temperate 
and  warmer  climate  most  of  our  broadleaf  trees  do  well, 
and  in  many  places  a  mixture  of  these  with  pine  and 
spruce  would  be  profitable.  At  present  oak  sells  better 
than  elm,  ash  better  than  maple,  and  any  of  these  better 
than  beech,  while  logs  of  white  pine  and  spruce  sell  best 
of  all. 

Since  such  kinds  as  the  oak  are  quite  intolerant  or 
sensitive  to  shade,  they  must  be  mixed  with  others  that 
can  stand  more  shade.  Of  these  the  beech  and  maple 
are  good.  Often  it  pays  to  plant  them  under  the  older 
oaks  when  these  no  longer  shade  the  ground  and  there 
is  light  enough  to  encourage  grass  and  weeds. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  this  way  of  treating  the 
forest  lies  in  the  danger  of  damaging  the  young  growth 
in  felling  old  timber,  and  in  cutting  and  barking  young 
growth  and  trees  in  dragging  out  the  larger  logs. 


60  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Besides  having  the  right  kinds  of  trees,  the  forester 
should  also  see  to  it  that  there  is  no  land  idle,  and  that 
all  trees  are  in  a  thrifty  condition,  growing  in  size  and 
value.  The  amount  of  wood  which  grows  each  year  per 
acre  varies  very  much  with  the  nature  of  the  soil  and 
with  the  kind,  the  number,  and  the  age  of  the  trees. 
For  better  lands  about  one  cord  per  acre  and  year  may 
be  expected;  on  poorer  lands  or  from  more  neglected 
woods  the  amount  may  fall  to  only  about  one  half  cord. 

The  selection  forest  is  the  oldest  form  of  properly 
tended  woods  and  has  been  in  use  in  some  European 
states  for  more  than  seven  centuries.  In  our  own  coun- 
try it  is  practiced  with  more  or  less  skill  by  many  hun- 
dreds of  farmers ;  and  even  some  of  our  large  forests  ate 
lumbered  on  the  selection  principle.  Thus,  in  the  pineries 
of  North  Carolina,  the  home  of  the  "  tar  kiln,"  farmers 
are  selling  the  timber  of  their  large  woodlands  to  lumber- 
men, and  many  of  these  pieces  are  logged  over  for  the 
third  or  fourth  time  in  a  century,  each  lumberman  cut- 
ting only  the  larger  trees  and  leaving  the  smaller  for  a 
future  crop. 

The  same  is  true  of  a  number  of  tracts  of  spruce 
lands  in  Maine,  where  some  men  introduced  this  method 
many  years  ago.  Generally  these  large  woods  have  not 
received  much  care.  In  cutting,  the  men  often  cleared 
large  patches,  which  remained  uncovered  a  long  time. 
Commonly  fire  gets  into  these  larger  slashes,  since  it 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  61 

is  unprofitable  to  remove  the  tops,  and  thus  much  dam- 
age is  done  to  the  remaining  trees.  Furthermore,  the 
dead  and  fallen  timber  and  all  useless  and  crippled  trees 
are  always  left  in  the  woods  and  hinder  the  good  trees, 
serving  as  breeding  places  for  fungi  and  insects,  and 
increasing  the  danger  of  fire. 

Why  do  these  lumbermen  and  holders  of  large  forests 
treat  their  woods  with  less  care  than  our  farmer  forester  ? 
Let  us  examine  into  this  a  little  more  closely.  When  the 
farmer  wants  to  cut  some  wood  he  can  step  out  any  day 
with  his  men,  utilizing  good  weather  and  spare  time,  if  it 
be  but  half  a  day;  he  can  cut  as  carefully  as  he  wishes, 
since  his  crew  is  small,  usually  interested,  instructed,  and 
satisfied  with  whatever  wages  the  work  may  bring. 

When  the  lumberman  goes  out  to  log  in  our  northern 
states,  for  instance,  he  must  start  in  summer,  must  build 
camps,  cook  house,  men's  quarters,  stables,  storehouse, 
and  smithy ;  a  crew  of  fifty  or  more  men  must  be  hired, 
and  supplies  hauled  for  all  his  outfit.  He  must  work 
systematically,  so  that  everybody  shall  be  kept  busy, 
and  in  good  weather  or  bad  he  must  pay  his  men  defi- 
nite wages. 

The  farmer  can  draw  home  his  logs,  firewood,  and 
fencing  or  other  material  whenever  the  weather  and 
roads  are  good.  His  firewood  he  may  pile  near  the 
house  to  season ;  his  logs  and  his  old  seasoned  wood  he 
takes  to  mill  or  to  town  whenever  hauling  is  good.  His 


62  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

roads  are  all  made,  and,  just  as  he  cuts,  so  he  hauls  when 
it  is  convenient,  utilizing  weather  and  time  to  good  advan- 
tage. If  the  winter  is  too  open  or  otherwise  unfavorable, 
he  does  no  more  than  he  is  obliged  to  do. 

Once  in  the  woods  the  lumberman  must  build  roads, 
clear  a  landing,  and  make  sure  that  he  has  a  brook  or 
river  capable  of  floating  his  logs;  otherwise  he  must 
build  a  railway  to  haul  them  out.  In  all  cases  this 
item  of  railway  building  is  very  great,  amounting  gen- 
erally to  twenty  per  cent  and  more  of  all  expenses. 
Then,  when  once  the  crew  is  felling  and  skidding  or, 
as  in  the  Adirondacks  and  many  of  the  spruce  woods, 
when  once  the  logs  are  all  skidded,  he  must  haul  them 
out  whether  there  is  too  much  or  too  little  snow,  whether 
the  weather  is  good  or  bad.  If  the  logs  are  to  be  driven 
down  a  brook  or  small  stream,  a  broken  dam  or  a  dry 
season  may  cause  lack  of  water  and  prevent  the  driving, 
and  thus  the  logs  will  remain  in  the  woods,  involving 
great  loss  to  the  owner. 

Again,  the  farmer  forester  lives  in  a  settled  country, 
near  mills  and  towns  where  he  can  sell  his  wood,  and 
not  an  inconsiderable  part  of  his  market  is  in  his  own 
household  and  farm.  His  market  is  at  home  or  near  by, 
and  transportation  to  market  is  practicable  for  nearly  all 
kinds  of  his  wood  materials. 

In  many  parts  of  our  country  the  lumberman's  logs 
travel  more  than  a  hundred  miles  before  they  reach  the 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING   UP  THE   FOREST  63 

sawmills  or  any  settlements  where  any  of  the  material 
may  be  used ;  and  the  greater  part  of  his  wood  travels 
several  hundred  miles,  some  of  it  more  than  a  thousand 
miles,  before  it  reaches  the  man  who  is  to  use  it. 

To  ship  cord  wood  out  of  the  woods  a  hundred  miles 
without  a  railway  would,  in  most  cases,  cost  much  more 
than  the  wood  could  be  sold  for.  For  this  reason  the 
lumberman  can  often  take  only  the  best  kinds  of  logs, 
and  of  these  only  the  lighter,  which  may  be  floated,  like 
pine  in  Wisconsin,  and  must  leave  hemlock  and  all  hard- 
woods where  they  are,  to  say  nothing  of  dead  material, 
crippled  and  worthless  trees,  small  poles  from  thinnings, 
and  the  like. 

It  seems,  then,  that  the  proper  care  of  a  small  forest  in 
a  settled  country  is  quite  easy,  but  that  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  bestow  the  proper  care  upon  a  large  forest  in 
out-of-the-way  districts,  and  that  often  only  the  simplest 
improvements  are  possible.  Of  course  there  must  be 
intermediate  cases,  and  so  there  are  also  different  degrees 
of  care  which  can  be  given  to  the  woods. 

This  also  teaches  us  another  useful  lesson;  it  is  this: 
Since  cord  wood  and  other  cheap  material  cannot  profit- 
ably be  shipped  far,  and  since  they  cannot  be  used  up  to 
good  advantage  in  unsettled  districts,  such  forests  should 
be  made  up  chiefly  of  soft  woods,  pine,  spruce,  etc.,  which 
furnish  a  small  amount  of  tops  and  a  large  amount  of 
light,  valuable  log  material,  which  pays  for  long-distance 


64  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

shipment.  Of  old  maple,  birch,  oak,  and  other  hardwoods, 
only  about  thirty  per  cent  of  all  the  wood  is  in  valuable 
logs,  and  seventy  per  cent  is  cheap  firewood,  while  in 
good  pine  or  spruce  over  seventy  per  cent  is  usually  cut 
into  valuable  logs. 

In  managing  large  pieces  of  selection  forest  it  is  best 
to  treat  one  part  after  another,  and  not  to  pick  all  over 
the  tract.  Thus,  if  a  man  has  sixty  acres  of  such  forest, 
he  would  best  cut  over  about  five  acres  this  year,  five  the 
next,  and  so  on,  and  in  this  way  get  over  the  entire  sixty 
acres  every  twelve  years.  This  would  give  twelve  years' 
rest  to  the  five  acres  first  cut,  during  which  time  there 
would  be  no  cutting  and  dragging  of  logs  and  other  mate- 
rial, and  at  the  same  time  the  cutting  would  recur  often 
enough  to  keep  the  woods  properly  thinned  and  cleaned. 

STARTING  THE  YOUNG  GROWTH  UNDER  SEED  TREES 

In  the  selection  forest  old  and  young  trees  are  mixed 
in  such  an  irregular  way  that  it  is  difficult  to  know  how 
many  trees  there  are  a  hundred  years  old,  eighty  years 
old,  etc.  This  makes  it  difficult  to  regulate  the  business 
of  the  forest,  to  know  how  much  is  growing,  to  cut  about 
the  same  amount  of  the  same  kinds  and  of  similar  sizes. 
Moreover,  many  a  fine  young  tree  thirty  or  forty  years  old 
is  damaged  by  the  felling  of  a  large  neighbor,  and  many 
good  trees  have  to  be  taken  out  before  their  time  because 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  65 

they   were  injured    in   logging.     For   this    reason   many 
foresters  have  changed  this  method  as  follows : 

Suppose  a  ten-acre  stand  of  spruce  or  beech  has  reached 
the  age  at  which  the  owner  wishes  to  cut  it  (maturity,  or 
age  of  rotation).  Instead  of  cutting  only  a  tree  here 
and  there,  he  thins  out  the  entire  stand,  taking  out  about 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  trees.  After  a  few  years  more, 
when  he  expects  a  seed  year  (a  matter  which  every  for- 
ester watches  closely)  or  when  an  abundance  of  seed  has 
been  produced  during  the  summer,  he  cuts  out  more  of  the 
trees,  leaving  only  about  fifty  to  seventy  per  cent  of  the 
original  stand,  so  that  the  crowns  of  these  trees,  which 
are  so  tolerant  of  a  great  amount  of  shade,  would  be  sepa- 
rated by  about  two  or  three  yards,  thereby  allowing  con- 
siderable light  to  get  to  the  ground.  The  marking  out  for 
this  cutting  (for  every  tree  is  marked  by  the  forester)  is 
done  in  the  early  fall  when  the  foliage  is  still  on  the  broad- 
leaved  trees,  and  the  cutting  is  done  the  following  winter. 
In  the  spring  the  seedlings  spring  up  and  grow  under  the 
protection  of  the  mother  trees,  which  shield  them  from  sun, 
wind,  and  frost.  After  three  years,  when  the  seedlings 
are  well  started  and  are  in  need  of  more  light,  about  half 
of  the  old  trees  are  cut  out ;  and  a  few  years  later,  when 
the  young  plants  are  about  one  or  two  feet  high,  the 
remaining  seed  trees  are  removed,  and  any  spots  which 
have  no  young  plants  are  stocked  with  plants  from  a 
nursery.  In  this  way  the  forest  is  harvested,  and  a  new 


66  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

growth  started  under  seed  trees  in  the  period  of  about 
ten  or  fifteen  years,  which  makes  this  new  crop  of  trees 
covering  our  ten-acre  lot  near  enough  of  an  age  to  be 
treated  alike  and  harvested  together,  producing  a  stand  of 
uniform  age.  Some  twenty  or  thirty  years  later  the  stand 
is  thinned  for  the  first  tune. 

Where  the  forest  consists  of  a  mixture  of  oak,  ash,  elm, 
maple,  etc.,  the  method  is  about  the  same,  only  the  seed 
trees  are  fewer,  representing  only  about  half  or  less  of  the 
original  stand.  Moreover,  it  is  well  in  these  mixed  stands 
to  give  the  young  plants  more  light  and  remove  the  last 
of  the  seed  trees  earlier,  since  the  young  plants  need  more 
light  and  care  less  for  protection. 

In  pine,  only  about  twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent  of  the 
trees  need  to  be  left  for  seed  trees.  Some  men  leave  only 
about  a  dozen  trees  per  acre.  The  seed  trees  should  be 
removed  when  the  young  plants  are  two  years  old,  since 
the  young  pine  does  not  tolerate  much  shade. 

All  kinds  of  trees  can  be  reproduced  in  this  way,  but 
the  success  varies  considerably  with  different  kinds  and  in 
different  localities.  In  Europe,  where  this  method  has 
been  tried  a  long  time,  it  is  commonly  used  for  beech  and 
balsam,  less  often  for  spruce,  seldom  for  pine  and  oak. 

In  our  own  country,  where  land  is  cheap  and  labor  dear, 
this  method  will  give  good  results  in  all  our  large  pineries. 
East  and  West,  in  the  spruce  forests  of  the  eastern  states 
and  Canada,  and  in  the  majority  of  our  hardwood  forests. 


(57 


68  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

In  our  northern  states,  where  the  oak  is  more  sensitive 
to  shade,  it  will  need  to  be  given  a  little  advantage  in  order 
to  keep  elm,  maple,  etc.,  from  crowding  it.  Other  sensitive 
trees,  like  hickory,  chestnut,  and  walnut,  need  watching 
and  should  be  planted  before  the  other  kinds  get  started. 

The  age  at  which  the  trees  should  be  cut —  the  rotation — 
naturally  varies  for  different  places;  it  is  longer  for  cold 
districts  and  slow-growing  trees  than  for  warm  localities 
and  rapid  growers,  and  of  course  it  depends  also  on  the 
size  of  trees  to  be  raised.  In  our  temperate  region  and  on 
better  soils  most  of  our  hardwoods  make  good-sized  timber 
in  an  eighty-  or  one-hundred-year  rotation;  on  poorer 
lands  —  mountain  districts  such  as  the  Adirondacks  and 
Alleghenies  —  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  years 
are  needed.  The  white  pine  makes  salable  material  at 
sixty  years,  good  lumber  at  one  hundred ;  the  red  fir,  white 
cedar,  and  redwoods  of  the  Pacific  will  do  the  same,  while 
spruce  and  balsam  for  pulp  purposes  may  be  managed  on 
a  still  shorter  rotation. 

In  carrying  out  the  method  of  starting  the  young  growth 
under  seed  trees  several  things  should  be  kept  in  mind. 
The  pieces  of  forest  which  are  taken  in  hand  at  any  one 
time  should  not  be  too  large.  Thus,  if  a  man  had  a  forest 
of  a  thousand  acres,  worked  on  a  hundred-year  rotation, 
and  wished  to  have  it  in  such  order  that  a  fifth  of  all  his 
woods  were  between  eighty  and  a  hundred  years  old,  a 
fifth  between  sixty  and  eighty  years,  etc.,  then  he  might 


RAISING  OK  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  69 

take  two  hundred  acres  in  one  piece  and  thin  for  seed 
trees,  get  a  new  crop  started,  and  harvest  everything  on 
the  two  hundred  acres ;  then  take  up  the  next  two  hun- 
dred acres ;  and  in  five  twenty-year  periods  he  would 
have  harvested  and  renewed  the  woods  on  the  entire 
thousand  acres.  But  this  would  not  be  good  ;  most  likely 
his  large  open  stand  of  seed  trees  would  invite  the  winds ; 
the  old  trees  would  blow  down,  and  the  young  trees 
suffer  from  drought.  For  this  reason  it  would  be  much 
better  to  pick  out  five  forty-acre  or  ten  twenty-acre 
pieces,  and  treat  each  by  itself.  To  pick  these  cuttings, 
or,  as  they  have  been  called,  "  felling  areas,"  is  not  always 
a  simple  thing  and  requires  good  judgment  as  well  as  a 
knowledge  of  the  woods  and  the  lay  of  the  land. 

Generally  it  is  better  in  our  country  to  work  from  east 
to  west,  to  prevent  the  regular  west  and  northwest  winds 
from  throwing  the  trees ;  but  in  a  hilly  country  this  must 
be  modified.  In  picking  out  the  cuttings  it  is  but  natural 
that  pieces  where  considerable  young  growth  exists  come 
first ;  and  also  that  a  really  thrifty  stand  of  timber  is  left 
and  a  less  thrifty  one  taken  instead,  since  the  latter  is 
not  growing  as  much  timber  as  it  should,  and,  therefore, 
is  not  earning  so  much  rent. 

On  all  points  where  the  wind  is  likely  to  do  much  dam- 
age, and  also  in  the  border  of  the  woods,  it  is  better  to  use 
the  simple  selection  method  by  which  the  woods  are  left 
more  intact,  and  are,  therefore,  more  resistant. 


70  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Wherever  it  is  possible,  as  in  all  small  woods  in  settled 
districts,  care  should  be  taken  not  to  leave  fail  places  or 
empty  spots,  and  if  the  young  growth  has  not  started 
well  or  evenly,  planting  from  a  nursery  should  help  out. 

Where  this  method  is  to  be  introduced  in  our  own  wild- 
woods  of  mixed  stands  the  work  must  be  suited  to  the 
case.  If,  for  instance,  we  have  a  sixty-acre  piece  of 
woods,  there  would  most  likely  be  some  parts  stocked 
with  old  trees,  some  other  parts  where  old  and  young 
are  mixed,  and  some  pieces  where  the  ground  is  covered 
largely  with  young  trees. 

In  this  case  it  would  be  best  to  begin  on  the  pieces  of 
old  timber.  But  since  the  crowns  of  our  old  trees  are  so 
very  large,  the  directions  about  having  the  crowns  three 
to  five  yards  apart  for  seed  trees  could  not  easily  be  fol- 
lowed. The  cutting  of  a  large  oak  would  often  separate 
the  neighbors  by  twelve  yards  or  more.  For  this  reason 
the  large  trees  would  be  picked  over,  so  that  a  selection 
system  would  be  applied  at  the  start.  But  instead  of 
coming  back  at  long  intervals,  the  selection  here  would  be 
repeated  as  often  as  the  gaps  are  restocked  with  young 
growth.  In  this  way  one  piece  after  another  is  renewed. 
If  it  were  desirable  to  have  the  woods  in  a  regular  shape, 
and  have  it  renewed  in  five  twenty-year  periods,  of  course 
one  fifth,  or  twelve  acres,  would  have  to  be  cut  over  and 
renewed  during  twenty  years.  At  first  this  would  not  be 
very  strictly  adhered  to,  and  if  the  regular  cutting  does 


RAISING  OK  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  71 

not  furnish  enough  timber,  or  if  any  of  the  other  parts  of 
this  piece  of  woods  are  in  need  of  thinning  or  cleaning, 
the  cutting  would  be  extended  to  these  parts. 

In  large  woods  the  forester  would  need  a  map  wherein 
he  could  readily  see  just  what  condition  every  acre  is  in,  so 
that  he  might  study  and  plan  the  work  at  his  house.  In 
carrying  out  the  plans  the  cuttings  would  be  marked  out 
in  the  woods  as  well  as  on  the  map. 

To  make  this  map  requires  not  only  a  survey  in  which 
boundary  lines  are  run,  as  in  ordinary  surveying,  but 
it  needs  an  examination  and  an  estimate,  or  better,  a 
measuring  of  the  trees,  —  all  of  them,  if  they  are  very 
valuable,  or  at  least  of  sample  pieces  or  stands ;  and  it 
also  requires  a  careful  noting  of  any  young  growth,  and 
a  description  of  the  land,  the  slope,  the  soil,  the  drainage. 
Whether  the  ground  is  covered  with  grass,  weeds,  and 
shrubbery,  or  is  bare,  should  also  be  indicated,  for  all 
this  knowledge  is  helpful  and  even  necessary  to  a  proper 
planning  of  the  work. 

STARTING  THE  YOUNG  GROWTH  BY  SEEDING  FROM 
THE  SIDE 

Along  the  Potomac,  in  Maryland,  many  old  fields  which 
were  cleared  and  tilled  in  the  time  of  George  Washing- 
ton are  covered  to-day  by  dense  stands  of  jack  pine.  In 
the  same  way  numerous  old,  abandoned  fields  in  North 


72  FIRST  BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Carolina  and  Virginia  are  covered  with  pine.  In  this 
case  the  pine  is  a  fine  tree,  called  by  the  people  of  those 
districts  shortleaf  pine,  and  on  account  of  its  disposition 
to  cover  old  fields  it  is  also  called  old- field  pine.  It  is 
cut  in  large  quantities  for  saw-logs,  and  it  is  not  an 
unusual  sight  to  see  men  log  this  pine  on  land  where  the 
old  corn  rows  are  still  visible.  Evidently  the  seed  from 
which  these  pine  trees  sprang  came  from  the  neighboring 
forest  and  was  blown  across  the  fields.  Being  so  success- 
ful in  many  cases,  this  way  of  reproducing  the  forest  has 
been  used  by  the  forester,  and  since*  the  seed  comes  from  the 
neighboring  forests,  the  ground  is  seeded  from  the  side  and 
not  under  the  seed  trees,  as  in  the  method  described  before. 
In  using  this  method  it  is  customary  to  fell  all  trees  on 
a  strip  fifty  to  seventy-five  yards  wide,  or  about  twice  as 
wide  as  the  trees  are  high,  and  then  to  wait  until  the 
strip  is  fairly  covered  with  young  seedling  growth ;  then 
to  cut  another  strip,  widening  the  original  strip  by  another 
seventy-five  yards,  and  so  on,  until  the  entire  piece  is  cut 
over.  Of  course  any  young  growth  is  saved  as  much  as 
possible  in  cutting  the  timber,  and  in  valuable  forests  any 
places  which  are  not  covered  within  a  reasonable  time, 
say  three  to  six  years,  are  filled  by  planting.  Since  the 
seed  is  carried  by  the  wind,  it  is  well  to  extend  the  strips 
north  and  south,  and  begin  on  any  particular  piece  along 
the  east  line,  So  that  the  prevailing  westerly  winds  will 
carry  the  seed  over  the  strip. 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST 


73 


Where  the  forest  is  large  there  are  as  many  strips 
worked  at  once  as  is  necessary  to  cover  the  entire  forest 
within  the  time  of  rotation.  Thus,  if  we  want  the  pine  to 
be  cut  when  eighty  years  old,  and  always  allow  each  strip 


FIG.  25.     Natural  Seeding  from  the  Side 
Young  pine  encroaching  on  cleared  land.     (After  Bureau  of  Forestry) 

five  years'  rest  to  seed  and  start  a  young  growth,  the 
forest  might  be  divided  into  a  number  of  parcels  such  that 
each  parcel  would  be  about  sixteen  strips  wide,  and  this 
could  be  cut  in  eighty  years'  time. 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


Where  the  wood  is  still  in  the  ordinary  irregular  mixture 
of  old  and  young  trees  the  larger  trees  on  the  western 
half  of  each  parcel  would  grow  old  and  produce  too  little 
wood  before  the  time  for  cutting,  and  it  is  better  to  take 
out  the  oldest  timber  all  over  the  parcel  from  time  to  time 
whenever  convenient,  independently  of  the  regular  cut- 
ting on  the  strips.  If  it  is  desirable  to  cut  about  the  same 
amount  of  timber  every  year,  as,  for  instance,  where  a  pulp 
mill  or  sawmill  is  dependent  on  such  regular  supply,  it  is 
necessary  with  this,  as  with  all  methods,  that  the  yearly  cut 
should  not  be  greater  than  the  yearly  growth.  In  woods 
where  too  much  timber  is  young  sapling  stuff  the  cut  must 
at  first  be  kept  proportionately  below  the  normal  amount. 
Just  what  this  cut  should  be  can  only  be  found  by  making 
such  a  survey  as  was  indicated  in  the  previous  chapter. 

What  this  growth  should  be  can  be  learned  from  the 
following  table : 

FOR   PJNE 

NUMBER  OF  CORDS  OF  WOOD  (Loos  AND  CORD  WOOD)  WHICH  MAY  BE  EXPECTED  ON 
ONE  ACRE  OF  LAND  IF  PROPERLY  COVERED 


When  the  Stand 
is  Old 

OH  Site  No.  l,or  Good 
Pine  Land 

On  Site  No.  3,  or  Inferior 
Pine  Land 

Years 

Cords 

Cords 

40 

40 

25 

60 

70 

40 

80 

95 

55 

100 

110 

65 

RAISING  OK  KEEPING   UP  THE  FOREST  75 

Since  .much  of  this  wood  in  our  forests  is  wasted,  the 
entire  top  being  left  in  the  woods,  the  slab  and  sawdust 
being  usually  burned  as  rubbish,  it  requires  about  three 
cords,  or  about  two  hundred  and  seventy  cubic  feet  (solid), 
to  make  one  thousand  feet  board  measure. 

Thus,  even  on  the  poorer  land,  our  stand  of  pine  would 
cut  about  thirteen  thousand  feet  board  measure  per  acre 
when  sixty  years  old.  In  most  of  our  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  pineries  it  would  do  much  better.  Generally, 
however,  even  well-kept  woods  are  not  fully  stocked,  and 
if  a  fully  stocked  wood  cuts  a  hundred  cords,  a  forest  in 
which  only  seven  tenths  of  the  ground  is  covered  with 
trees  would  cut  only  seven  tenths  of  that  amount,  or 
seventy  cords. 

Dense  woods  of  beech  or  spruce,  or  both  in  mixture,  cut 
more  than  pine,  and  most  of  our  mixed  hardwoods  grow- 
ing on  better  soil  could  be  made  to  cut  at  least  as  much 
as  the  pine. 

Seeding  from  the  side  can,  of  course,  be  expected  to 
succeed  only  with  trees  like  the  pine,  spruce,  red  fir,  cedar, 
birch,  poplar,  elm,  and  others  the  seed  of  which  is  light 
enough  to  be  blown  some  distance. 

In  Europe,  where  it  has  been  tried,  this  method  has  not 
given  general  satisfaction ;  the  soil  is  exposed  too  long  to 
sun  and  wind  and  thus  loses  of  its  fertility ;  grass,  weeds, 
and  bramble  cover  the  sunny  eastern  edge  of  the  strip, 
and  often  the  seeding  is  too  imperfect  for  those  countries 


76  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

where  land  is  very  valuable  and  must  never  be  left  idle. 
In  our  own  country  Nature  indicates  the  use  of  this  method 
for  a  large  portion  of  the  pineries  of  the  South,  and  parts 
of  the  Rockies,  and  also  in  the  red  fir  forests  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  where  millions  of  acres  of  burns  have  been 
most  beautifully  restocked  in  this  manner  without  any  care 
on  the  part  of  man.  The  chief  advantages  of  this  method 
are  that  it  does  away  with  the  tedious  marking ;  that,  in 
felling,  the  men  are  not  hampered  by  the  fear  of  injuring 
young  growth  or  standing  timber ;  and  that  the  skidding 
and  hauling  is  not  interfered  with  by  standing  timber  and 
young  growth,  and  therefore  can  be  done  much  cheaper. 

STARTING  THE  YOUNG  GROWTH  BY  ARTIFICIAL 
PLANTING  OR  SOWING 

On  many  of  the  old  farms  in  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  and  other  eastern  states,  portions  of  the  land 
have  become  worn  out  by  long  tillage  and  use.  They 
became  pastures  and,  finally,  almost  useless  brush  lands. 
Some  of  these  were  planted  or  sowed  to  white  pine,  and 
land  which  sixty  years  ago  was  worth  almost  nothing  to 
its  owner,  since  it  could  earn  no  rental  worth  mention,  is 
now  covered  with  a  forest  of  white  pine  worth  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  and  more  per  acre. 

This  way  of  dealing  with  the  forest,  to  cut  clean  and 
then  replant,  is  a  common  method  in  European  countries 


FIG.  26.     White-Pine  Cone,  Seed,  and  Seedling 

a,  cone ;  b,  seed  with  wing ;  c,  d,  e,  plant  of  first  season ;  /,  plant  two  years  old 
(After  Division  of  Forestry) 

77 


78  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

and  much  used  in  the  pineries  of  North  Germany,  and  in  the 
spruce  forests  of  Saxony  and  other  districts.  In  our  own 
country  this  method  has  not  yet  been  used  systematically 
in  the  care  of  forests,  but  many  thousands  of  acres  of 
what  was  formerly  forest  lands  and  large  areas  of  prairie 
land  have  been  planted  and  converted  into  useful  forests. 

The  method  is  the  simplest ;  the  logging  can  be  done  at 
any  time,  in  the  cheapest  manner,  and  the  reproduction  or 
starting  of  a  new  growth  is  simple  and  satisfactory. 

With  the  natural  seeding  under  seed  trees  or  in  clear 
strips  one  spot  has  thousands  of  seedlings  on  a  few  square 
rods,  so  that  not  one  plant  in  a  hundred  can  possibly  live ; 
and  the  next  spot  is  left  without  any  growth  and  must 
either  be  left  idle  or  be  replanted.  All  this  is  avoided  by 
planting,  for  if  done  well  it  is  usually  successful,  and  the 
plants  are  sufficient  in  number  and  yet  do  not  crowd  each 
other.  They  therefore  grow  fast  and  symmetrically,  with 
good  healthy  crowns,  and  the  sticks  are  not  so  slender  as 
if  grown  in  dense  thickets. 

Since  this  method  requires  a  large  number  of  plants, 
we  shall  have  to  learn  something  about  tree  seeds,  where 
and  how  to  get  them,  how  to  raise  plants,  and  how  to 
plant  them. 

Nursery  and  Planting.  —  The  seeds  of  most  of  our  forest 
trees  are  still  so  high  in  price  at  seed  stores  that  it  is 
well  to  collect  them  whenever  possible.  Thus,  the  seed  of 
our  pines,  spruces,  and  cedars  costs  from  two  dollars  to 


RAISING  OK  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  79 

five  dollars  per  pound  ;  that  of  ash,  maple,  and  birch 
from  one  dollar  to  two  dollars,  and  even  acorns  cost 
twenty-five  cents  and  more  per  pound.  It  pays,  there- 
fore, to  gather  our  own  seed ;  for,  besides  being  cheaper, 
the  seeds  we  gather  are  fresh  and,  being  matured  in 
our  own  locality,  are  apt  to  furnish  plants  well  suited  to 
our  climate. 

There  are  a  few  kinds  like  the  elms,  the  willows,  the 
poplars,  and  also  the  silver  and  red  maples  which  ripen 
their  seeds  in  spring  and  early  summer;  but  most  trees 
ripen  their  seed  in  the  fall,  the  majority  in  September  and 
October.  Some  kinds  bear  seed  nearly  every  year ;  most 
kinds  bear  every  two  or  three  years  with  a  specially  good 
seed  year  at  longer  intervals. 

Large  seeds,  like  those  of  oak,  beech,  chestnut,  hickory, 
and  walnut,  can  be  picked  up  when  they  fall,  and  the 
same  is  true  of  the  pods  of  locusts  and  catalpa.  The  seeds 
of  basswood,  maple,  and  ash  may  be  beaten  off  the  tree 
and  caught  on  a  sheet  spread  out  on  the  ground ;  or  they 
can  be  gathered  by  cutting  the  best  bearing  twigs  with 
shears,  either  from  the  ground  or  from  a  ladder. 

This  way  of  cutting  the  twigs  or  picking  off  seeds  is 
the  best  also  for  elm  and  for  trees  where  the  seeds  are 
in  cones  or  balls,  as  with  the  yellow  poplar  (tulip  poplar), 
sweet  gum,  sycamore,  birches,  and  conifers.  The  seed  of 
willows  and  poplars  rarely  needs  to  be  gathered,  as  these 
trees  are  easily  grown  from  cuttings. 


80  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

The  seeds  which  ripen  in  spring  and  early  summer, 
as  those  of  elm,  poplar,  and  willow,  must  be  sown  as 
soon  as  ripe,  for  they  do  not  retain  their  vitality  very 
long. 

The  small  cones  of  birch,  yellow  or  tulip  poplar,  and 
balsams  fall  apart  easily  when  dry,  and  then  the  seeds 
and  scales  (chaff)  may  be  separated ;  but  the  cones  of 
pine,  spruce,  larch  or  tamarack,  hemlock,  and  white 
cedars  remain  intact  and  have  to  be  dried,  preferably 
in  a  warm  room,  until  the  scales  open  and  let  the  seeds 
drop  out. 

After  we  have  gathered  the  few  kinds  of  seeds  from 
which  we  wish  to  raise  plants  we  have  to  take  care  of 
them,  for  seeds  are  not  only  eagerly  eaten  by  mice,  but 
they  spoil  by  drying  out  or  by  heating  and  molding. 

Different  seeds  behave  very  differently  in  this  respect. 
The  seeds  of  pine,  spruce,  and  other  conifers  may  be  kept 
in  bags  hung  up  in  a  dry,  cool  shed,  but  the  majority  of 
seeds  of  broadleaf  kinds,  especially  all  the  fleshier  ones, 
are  best  kept  in  sand. 

For  this  purpose  the  bottom  of  an  ordinary  box  is  cov- 
ered with  a  two-inch  layer  of  sand  (not  dry,  but  moist 
like  ordinary  earth);  then  a  layer  of  seeds  one  half  to 
one  inch  thick  is  spread  out  on  the  sand ;  this  is  covered 
with  a  two-inch  layer  of  sand,  then  a  layer  of  seed,  and 
so  forth.  When  filled  the  box  is  nailed  up  and  may  then 
be  placed  in  a  cool  cellar  or  else  put  into  a  pit  dug  in  the 


RAISING   OR   KEEPING   UP   THE   FOREST          81 

garden,  deep  enough  to  receive  the  entire  box.  After  the 
box  is  set  in,  earth  is  shoveled  over  it  to  cover  it  at  least 
six  inches  deep  and  make  a  small  mound  to  shed  the 
water.  This  should  be  still  further  guarded  by  a  covering 
of  boards  or  slabs.  The  seed  thus  kept  should  be  sowed 
immediately  after  it  is  taken  out  in  the  spring. 

To  save  the  trouble  of  keeping  the  seed  over  till  spring, 
it  is  often  better,  where  mice  are  not  too  numerous,  to 


FIG.  27.     Drill  Board 
a,  board ;  6,  cleat  to  make  the  drill ;  c,  upright  board  with  handle,  d 

sow  the  seeds  in  the  fall.  This  may  well  be  done  with 
all  fleshy  seeds,  like  those  of  oak,  beech,  chestnut,  hickory, 
walnut,  maple,  ash,  etc.,  but  seeds  of  conifers  and  most 
seeds  which  can  stand  only  a  very  thin  cover  of  earth 
should  be  kept  till  spring. 


82  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

Seed  Bed. — To  raise  plants  of  broad-leaved  trees  any  good 
garden  beds  will  do ;  for  pine  and  other  conifers  most  gar- 
dens have  too  much  stable  manure,  and  a  small  spot  in  the 
woods  is  often  better.  Broad-leaved  kinds  need  a  good 
loam,  but  can  stand  quite  heavy  clay ;  but  the  conifers 
fare  better  on  a  sandy  soil.  All  seed  beds  should  be 
plowed  or  spaded  deeply  to  loosen  the  soil  for  the  roots, 
and  the  land  should  be  well  fertilized  with  phosphate 
of  lime,  well  rotted  compost,  or  forest  mold.  All  this 
is  easily  done  where  only  a  few  thousand  plants  are  to  be 
raised;  for  abed  four  by  twelve  feet  is  capable  of  producing 
a  thousand  or  more  of  such  plants  as  pine  and  spruce. 

For  this  reason  some  prefer  raising  tree  seedlings  in 
boxes  in  the  house,  or  under  glass,  and  in  many  cases 
this  way  is  the  cheapest  and  most  convenient.  Of  course 
where  a  large  forest  has  to  be  supplied  every  year  with 
plants  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  large  nursery. 

Sowing.  —  In  sowing  large  seeds  it  is  generally  better 
to  plant  in  drills,  which  may  be  made  with  a  narrow  gar- 
den hoe;  but  for  small  seeds  the  drills  should  be  pressed 
into  the  ground  with  a  drill  board,  shown  in  Fig.  27,  where 
the  two  cleats  make  the  drills.  In  boxes  and  where  space 
is  valuable  broadcast  sowing  may  be  employed.  With 
most  of  the  broad-leaved  kinds  the  drills  should  not  be 
closer  than  twelve  inches ;  for  conifers  six  inches  suffices. 

As  soon  as  fhey  are  in  the  ground,  conifer  seeds  should 
be  covered  about  one  half  inch;  maple,  ash,  etc.,  about 


83 


84  FIKST   BOOK   OF  FOKESTRY 

one  inch;  oak,  hickory,  walnut,  and  also  black  locust, 
about  two  inches.  An  old  rule  says  that  tree  seeds 
should  have  a  cover  three  times  as  deep  as  the  seed  is 
thick.  After  covering,  it  is  well  to  roll  or  press  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground  with  a  board  or  roller.  To  prevent  the 
drying  out  of  the  ground  it  is  best  to  give  the  seed  bed 
a  cover  of  brush  or  else  cover  it  with  a  screen.  (See 
Fig.  28.)  This  screen  is  placed  on  the  ground  until  the 
seedlings  push  out  of  the  soil ;  then  it  should  be  raised, 
at  first  four  inches,  later  on  twelve  inches  for  conifers, 
and  for  broad-leaved  trees  two  feet,  so  as  not  to  hinder 
the  plants  in  their  growth.  This  screen  protects  the 
plants  against  sun  and  wind,  and  thus  keeps  them  from 
drying  out. 

Some  broad-leaved  trees  and  also  the  pine  can  some- 
times be  raised  without  the  screen,  but  all  kinds  do  better 
if  thus  protected ;  while  some  kinds,  like  spruce  and  bal- 
sam, do  not  get  on  well  without  it,  and  should  have  it  all 
of  the  first  and  at  least  part  of  the  second  year. 

Many  seeds  will  germinate  within  a  few  weeks  after 
sowing ;  some  few,  like  ash,  basswood,  larch,  and  even 
white  pine,  often  "  lie  over,"  i.e.,  a  part  of  the  seed  does 
not  come  up  until  the  second  year.  To  prevent  this  the 
seed  should  be  soaked  for  several  days  before  sowing. 

The  majority  of  fresh  or  properly  kept  tree  seeds  are 
good,  and  from  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent  of  all  seeds  may 
be  expected  to  germinate ;  but  of  those  of  balsams,  birch, 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST  85 

elm,  ash,  and  maple  generally  less  than  half  are  good, 
while  of  yellow  poplar  seed  ninety  per  cent  is  commonly 
worthless. 

The  number  of  plants  which  are  obtained  from  a  pound 
of  seed  depends,  of  course,  on  the  number  of  seeds  in  a 
pound,  on  the  per  cent  of  good  seeds,  and  also  on  the 
vigor  of  the  seedlings. 

The  number  of  seeds  in  a  pound  varies  within  wide 
limits.  In  the  light  and  winged  seed  of  birch  there  are 
over  four  hundred  thousand  grains  to  the  pound ;  in  Nor- 
way, shortleaf,  and  Scotch  pine,  red  fir,  and  spruce,  about 
seventy  thousand ;  in  white  pine,  about  thirty  thousand ; 
in  white  ash,  about  ten  thousand ;  in  basswood  and  sugar 
maple,  about  seven  thousand,  while  in  walnuts  there  are 
only  about  thirty  nuts  per  pound.  In  sowing,  the  seeds 
should  be  well  spaced  so  that  about  three  to  five  grains 
of  coniferous  seeds  come  to  one  linear  inch  of  the  drill. 
Acorns  and  nuts  are  dropped  about  two  to  three  inches 
apart,  and  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  smaller  seeds  of 
broad-leaved  trees  one  to  three  seeds  are  sown  to  each 
inch  of  drill. 

Seedlings. — If  properly  cared  for,  i.e.,  hoed,  weeded, 
and,  if  need  be,  watered,  and  carefully  sheltered,  the 
little  seedlings  should  take  a  firm  hold  of  the  ground 
and  become  fully  established  during  the  first  summer. 
Pine,  spruce,  and  other  conifers  generally  remain  small 
the  first  season,  usually  growing  to  a  height  of  only  one 


86 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


and  a  half  to  three  inches ;  those  of  most  of  the  broad- 
leaved  kinds  in  the  temperate  zone  of  our  country  grow 
usually  to  a  height  of  six  to  twelve  inches  the  first  year, 


FIG.  29.     Seedlings.     (All  two  years  old  and  about  three  feet  high) 
a,  maple;  &,  box  elder;  c,  aspen 

and  some  of  them,  like  catalpa,  black  locust,  and  the 
walnuts,  grow  commonly  to  a  height  of  twelve  to  twenty- 
four  inches. 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOPvEST 


87 


During  cloudy  weather  and  in  the  fall  the  screens  should 
be  removed  or  used  sparingly,  to  give  the  seedlings  suffi- 
cient light.  During  the  winter  the  tiny  little  plantlets 
of  conifers  may  be  protected  with  a  cover  of  branches  or 
leaves,  but  generally  they  do  well  enough  without  cover. 


FIG.  30.     Planting  in  Old  Burned-over  Slash  Land  in  Adirondacks 

For  the  taller,  broad-leaved  seedlings  a  "hilling  up"  is 
usually  desirable,  and  where  tender  kinds,  such  as  hickory 
and  chestnut,  are  to  be  raised  in  colder  localities  a  cover 
of  brush  and  straw  is  desirable. 

Planting.  —  The  plants  of  such  trees  as  the  elm,  catalpa, 
and  black  locust,  and  most  of  our  hardwoods  may  well 


88  FIRST  BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

be  set  out  in  the  woods  when  one  year  old  ;  and  even 
beech  and  pine  do  well  if  set  out  at  this  age.  Pine  plants 
do  better  if  set  out  when  two  years  old,  and  spruce  and 
balsam  in  their  third  year.  When  it  is  desirable  to  have 
stout  and  hardy  plants,  as  in  planting  on  poor  soil  or  in 
places  exposed  to  wind  and  sun,  it  is  best  to  take  the 
plants  from  the  seed  bed  when  one,  or  even  better,  when 
two,  years  old  and  set  them  in  another  bed  in  the  garden, 
giving  them  more  space.  This  transplanting  makes  stout, 
bushy,  long-rooted  plants,  and  is  much  used  in  raising 
spruce,  balsam,  and  oak.  Generally  it  costs  as  much  to 
transplant  a  thousand  plants  as  it  costs  to  raise  them,  in 
the  seed  bed  to  the  second  year. 

Where  the  trees  are  set  out  on  forest  soil  with  stumps 
and  small  brush  and  rotten  logs  and  other  rubbish  in  the 
way,  they  are  placed  wherever  there  is  good  space,  but 
preferably  not  closer  than  five  feet  apart.  The  planting 
is  best  done  by  two  men,  one  digging  the  holes  with  a 
mattock,  the  other  setting  out  the  trees. 

The  plant  should  not  be  set  deeper  than  it  stood  in  the 
seed  bed  ;  the  soil  must  be  filled  in  neatly  and  firmly 
about  the  roots,  so  that  the  plant  cannot  readily  be  lifted 
out  by  the  top  after  planting.  In  this  way  two  men  can 
plant  eight  to  twelve  hundred  small  plants  per  day.  By 
using  the  spadelike  iron  shown  in  Fig.  31,1?,  where  the  hole 
is  made  by  one  thrust,  the  plant  held  in  by  a  boy,  and 
the  hole  closed  by  a  second  thrust,  the  two  men  can  plant 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE   FOREST 


89 


as  many  as  fifteen  to  twenty  hundred  per  day.  This 
method  does  very  well  in  sandy  soil  and  with  two-  to 
three-year-old  conifers. 

On  prairies,  where  the  land  may  first  be  plowed  and 
harrowed,  the  trees  may  be  set  in  regular  rows,  and  the 


FIG.  ,31.     Planting  Tools 

A,  ax-mattock,  one  of  the  best  tools  used  in  the  woods ;  B,  planting  dibble, 
used  in  loose  soil  and  for  small  plants 

larger  plants  of  broad-leaved  kinds  may  well  be  set  out 
in  furrows. 

In  all  kinds  of  planting,  but  especially  with  pine, 
spruce,  and  other  conifers,  the  greatest  difficulty  is  found 
usually  in  trying  to  keep  the  plants  in  a  fresh,  healthy 
condition.  If  they  are  bought  at  a  nursery,  a  thousand 


90  FIEST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTEY 

or  more  miles  away,  they  are  apt  to  heat  and  mold  if 
packed  too  closely,  and  dry  out  if  packed  too  loosely. 
The  best  method  is  probably  to  ship  them  in  large  bas- 
kets, packed  in  bundles  and  with  the  roots  wrapped  with 
damp  moss.  Seedlings  of  pine,  spruce,  and  other  coni- 
fers should  never  be  allowed  to  dry  at  their  roots ;  in 
fact,  a  few  minutes  of  such  drying  in  bright  sunlight  is 
often  enough  to  kill  them. 

During  planting,  the  bunch  of  seedlings  carried  along 
should  not  be  held  in  the  hand  but  kept  in  a  pail  with 
wet  moss  and  a  little  water,  and  in  warm,  sunny  weather 
the  pail  should  have  a  cover  of  wet  sacking.  The  broad- 
leaved  kinds  are  much  more  hardy,  but  in  all  cases  success 
in  planting  depends  on  keeping  the  plants  fresh.  Planting 
in  spring  is  universally  preferred,  though  fall  planting  is 
often  equally  good. 

Sowing  in  the  Forest.  —  Where  seed  is  cheap  and  where 
the  soil  is  in  good  condition,  as  on  newly  clean-cut  forest 
land,  many  people  prefer  to  sow  the  seed  directly  on  the 
land  and  thus  save  all  the  trouble  of  raising  plants. 
With  the  seeds  of  oak,  chestnut,  hickory,  walnut,  beech, 
locust,  maple,  ash,  and  basswood  this  is  a  very  good  way ; 
and  even  for  pine  and  spruce  excellent  results  are  obtained 
by  this  method.  In  sowing,  the  man  hoes  small  spots 
about  twenty-four  inches  square,  scraping  the  ground  a 
little  toward  the  center  to  make  this  part  the  highest; 
he  then  drops  three  to  five  seeds  in  about  the  middle  and 


RAISING  OR  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOREST 


91 


covers  them  lightly,  pressing  the  ground  afterward  with 
the  hoe.  In  this  way  he  goes  back  and  forth,  sowing 
wherever  there  is  room,  but  so  that  the  spots  are  at  least 


FIG.  32.     Pine  Grove  from  Planted  Seed 
(After  Graves) 

five  feet  apart.  Where  mice  are  numerous,  and  where 
insects,  sun,  and  wind,  together  with  a  poor  soil,  combine 
to  injure  the  seedlings,  this  method  is  not  reliable. 


92  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Occasionally  wild  seedlings  may  be  found  in  great 
abundance  in  the  woods.  When  these  plants  are  still 
small.,  i.e.,  from  one  to  two  years  old,  they  usually  thrive 
if  transplanted ;  but  older  plants,  especially  if  taken  from 
rather  dark  woods,  are  generally  too  spindling  and  rarely 
do  well. 

Poplars  and  willows  are  best  started  by  cuttings.  These 
are  pieces  of  young  shoots,  one  to  two  years  old,  gathered 
in  March  arid  cut  into  twelve-inch  pieces.  These  pieces 
are  bundled  and  then  buried  until  spring  opens,  when 
they  are  set  out  either  in  the  garden,  if  we  wish  plants, 
or  else  at  once  in  the  woods,  where  they  are  to  remain 
permanently.  In  the  garden  they  may  be  planted  in  a 
trench  made  with  spade  or  plow ;  and  in  the  woods  they 
are  stuck  into  a  slanting  hole  made  with  the  spade,  about 
two  inches  of  the  cutting  being  left  to  project  from  the  hole. 
In  both  cases  the  earth  is  packed  firmly  by  tamping. 

In  our  prairie  regions,  of  course,  all  trees  must  be 
planted ;  the  forest  is  yet  to  be  made.  Here  planting, 
chiefly  of  broad-leaved  kinds,  has  proved  most  successful. 
Later  on,  when  the  woods  exist,  conifers  may  be  added. 

In  our  forest  lands  such  trees  as  poplar,  willow,  birch, 
elm,  and  even  maple,  basswood,  and  ash,  need  introduc- 
tion here  and  there ;  but  in  our  hardwood  forests  they 
will  usually  be  numerous  enough  without  special  care. 

Hickory,  walnut,  and  even  oak,  chestnut,  and  beech 
may  well  be  started  by  planting  the  seed ;  thus,  generally. 


KAISING  OK  KEEPING  UP  THE  FOKEST 


93 


the  main  object  of  forest  nurseries  is  to  produce  conifers 
and  only  secondarily  to  start  such  kinds  as  do  not  exist 
in  a  given  locality,  or  common  broad-leaved  trees  for  poor 
soils  and  difficult  waste  lands. 

The  method  of  cutting  clean  and  replanting,  though 
used  successfully  for  many  years  and  in  many  places,  and 
used  in  forests 
which  have  paid 
the  highest  yearly 
rental  of  any  in  the 
world,  has,  never- 
theless, been  criti- 
cised by  many  for- 
esters. Usually  it  is 
claimed  that  it  costs 
tc/o  much ;  that  it 
leaves  the  ground 
bare  for  several 
years  and  thus 
exposes  it  to  sun 

and  wind*  and  PIG.  33.  An  Oak  Grove  from  Artificial  Seeding 
finally,  that  it  (After  Graves) 

induces  the  people  to  grow  forests  composed  of  one  kind 
of  trees,  either  spruce  alone  or  pine  alone,  and  thus 
increases  the  danger  from  insects  and  disease  ;  for  if  a 
spruce  forest  is  attacked  by  a  spruce-loving  caterpillar, 
the  insect  finds  so  much  food  that  its  numbers  increase 


94  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

all  the  more  rapidly,  and  a  whole  forest  may  be  destroyed. 
Experience  in  Saxony,  involving  thousands  of  acres  annu- 
ally, shows  that  planting  is  not  costly,  for  it  costs  there 
only  about  two  per  cent  of  the  total  or  gross  income  of 
the  forest.  But  even  if  it  should  not  be  well  to  clear  off 
large  tracts  of  forest  and  then  replant,  it  will  be  safe  to 
do  so  on  better  lands  in  a  temperate  climate  and  for  small 
areas ;  and  it  is  probable,  also,  that  it  will  prove  satisfac- 
tory for  larger  areas  situated  near  good  markets,  like  some 
of  our  spruce  forests  which  supply  pulp  mills  in  their  midst. 

Aside  from  this  it  will  always  be  found  not  only  help- 
ful, but  even  necessary,  to  assist  Nature  in  restocking  the 
forest ;  for,  however  carefully  dealt  with,  mistakes  produce 
fail  places,  and  therefore  every  one  who  cares  for  a  forest 
should  know  how  to  plant  and  sow  and  should  at  all 
times  be  ready  to  do  so. 

It  would  be  misleading,  however,  to  infer  that  the 
planting  of  forests  is  always  profitable  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word.  Like  the  pioneer's  clearing  of  forests 
for  plowland,  and  like  the  farmer's  labor  of  raising  the 
bread  and  meat  of  the  nation,  so  the  planting  and  raising 
of  forests,  though  one  of  the  most  necessary  of  human 
occupations,  rarely  produces  those  large  returns  which  a 
speculative  age  expects  from  a  "  paying "  investment. 
But  like  the  conversion  of  the  wilderness  into  productive 
farms  and  pleasant  homes,  so  the  planting  of  the  forest 
is  sure  to  reward  in  the  end. 


RAISING   OK   KEEPING   UP   THE   FOREST          95 

REVIEW  OF  METHODS  OF  STARTING  NEW  GROWTH 
IN  FORESTS 

We  have  now  looked  over  the  various  ways  which  dif- 
ferent people  employ  to  keep  up  different  kinds  of  forests. 
Of  course  every  one  of  these  principal  ways  may  be,  and 
actually  is,  modified  or  changed  by  different  men  to  suit 
particular  cases.  In  this  way  there  are  a  good  many  kinds 
of  coppice,  using  different  trees  and  different  rotations ; 
one  man  leaves  only  a  few  trees  in  his  standard  coppice, 
another  holds  over  so  many  trees  that  the  standard  coppice 
approaches  the  timber  forest.  In  the  same  way  one  man 
picks  over  his  whole  tract  of  selection  forest  every  year ; 
another  works  one  fourth  of  it  until  this  fourth  is  all  cut 
over  and  stocked  with  new  growth,  and  then  goes  to  the 
next  fourth,  etc.  In  this  way  his  selection  forest  becomes 
more  regular  and  approaches  the  common  method  of 
starting  the  young  growth  under  seed  trees. 

We  have  learned,  too,  that  whatever  the  system  of 
management  may  be,  the  starting  of  a  new  growth  — 
the  reproduction,  the  keeping  up  of  the  forest  —  is  the 
main  feature  in  the  mind  of  the  forester,  and  his  methods 
are  described,  named,  and  compared  with  this  chief  object 
in  view. 

The  table  on  the  following  page  will  help  us  to  fix  in 
our  memory  the  principal  methods  of  reproduction,  each 
giving  rise  to  a  particular  form  of  forest. 


96 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


THE   SIX   PRINCIPAL   METHODS   OF   REPRODUCTION 


METHOD 

How  THE  CUTTING 

IS  DONE 

THE  TREES 
START  FROM 

WHERE  THE  METHOD 
MAV  HE  USED 

1.    Coppice 

All  trees  are  cut  off 

Sprouts 

Only  for  broad-leaved  trees, 

preferably  oak  and  chest- 

nut, on  fairly  good  forest 

soil  and  in  mild  climate 

2.   Standard 

Part  of  the  trees  are 

Main  crop  from 

Same  as  coppice.     For 

Coppice 

held  over  to  grow 

sprouts,  the 

standards  use  oak,  chest- 

to larger  size,  and 

standards  pre- 

nut, ash,  also  pine 

are  cut  at  the  end 

ferably    from 

of    the    second    or 

seed  or  plants 

third  rotation 

3.    Selection 

The  largest  and  old- 

Mostly   from 

For  all  kinds  of  forests,  on 

est  trees  and   also 

seed 

all  kinds  of  land,  and  for 

the    worthless    and 

cold  and  warm  climates. 

crowding     younger 

The  best  way  for  difficult 

trees  are  picked  out 

mountain    forests   and 

wherever    it    is   hard    to 

keep  forest  growth 

4.    Under 

The  piece  of  land  is 

Seed 

All  kinds    of    forests,   less 

Seed  Trees 

cut  over  two  to  four 

good  in  cold  climate,  on 

times  within  10-20 

poor  soil,  and  in  exposed 

years  ;  the  first  cut 

(storm-beaten)  places 

merely    thins    out, 

the    second    leaves 

only  the  seed  trees, 

the  third  cut  gives 

light  to  the  young 

growth,  the  fourth 

cut  removes  the  last 

of  the  old  trees 

5.    Natural 

Strips     50-75     yards 

Seed  carried  by 

Only  with  trees  which  have 

Seeding 

wide  are  cut  clean 

the  wind  from 

light  seed,  —  pine,  spruce, 

from  the 

and    left     until 

neighboring 

red  fir,  white  cedars,  elm, 

Side 

seeded,  when  a  new 

forest 

birch,  poplar,  etc.,  —  and 

strip  is  cleared 

only  in  warmer  localities 
and    where    seed    falls 

abundantly  and  regu- 

larly, and  where  the  soil 

is  not  covered  too  badly 

with  grass  and  brush 

6.   Artificial 

All  timber  is  cut 

Seed,  or  nursery 

All  kinds  of  forests,  good 

Seeding  or 

plants 

and  poor  soil,   cold  and 

Planting 

warm  climate.    Simplifies 

the  business,  makes  cheap 

logging,   and   prevents 

useless  crowding  of  young 

plants 

CAKE  AND  PROTECTION   OF  THE  FOKEST          97 

CARE   AND   PROTECTION   OF   THE   FOREST 

A  piece  of  wildwoods,  as  we  have  seen,  may  do  very 
well  without  the  care  of  man  ;  young  growth  will  start  up 
where  old  trees  die  and  fall ;  in  the  dense  thickets  the 
more  vigorous  choke  out  the  weaker,  the  taller  shade 
down  the  shorter ;  the  tolerant  crowd  out  the  intolerant. 
A  gap  made  by  the  storm  is  filled  in  sooner  or  later  by 
trees  starting  as  sprouts,  or  by  trees  whose  seeds  have 
been  carried  there  by  the  wind.  Large  openings  made  by 
fire  are  restocked,  here  slower,  there  faster,  according  to 
the  circumstances ;  and  large  areas  of  forest  destroyed  by 
some  caterpillar  are  gradually  reforested  by  those  kinds 
which  this  particular  insect  does  not  feed  upon.  This 
would  seem  to  tell  us  that  forests  need  110  care.  But  this 
is  true  only  if  we  are  satisfied  with  the  small  amount  of 
good  growth  which  most  wildwoods  make.  Where  man 
wishes  the  forest  to  produce  a  larger  amount  of  wood  and 
wood  of  particular  kinds  and  sizes,  more  or  less  care  is 
necessary.  In  the  stately  forests  of  red  fir  and  cedar  of 
the  Puget  Sound  country,  where  a  good  forest  soil,  mild 
and  humid  climate,  and  excellent  kinds  of  forest  trees 
combine  to  make  a  forester's  paradise,  a  little  care  might 
suffice  ;  but  even  in  these  districts  the  old  trees  hinder  the 
young,  and  the  young  trees  crowd  each  other,  and  thus 
the  trees  themselves  call  for  help,  for  interference,  for 
improvement. 


98  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Besides  this  the  farmer  with  his  thirty  acres  of  woods 
is  not  satisfied  with  the  philosophic  view  that,  in  the  wild 
state,  forests  gradually  right  themselves ;  he  must  know 
what  he  had  better  do  to  protect  his  woods  against  fire 
and  insects,  and  how  to  treat  them  to  make  them  more 
resistant  against  wind,  snow,  and  frost. 

THINNING  AND  CLEANING 

Going  over  a  newly  planted  piece  of  young  pine  where 
the  little  plants  are  five  feet  apart,  we  see  that  each  of 
these  has  more  than  twenty  times  as  much  space  as  it 
needs.  If  we  come  back  five  years  later,  we  find  the  little 
bushy-topped  trees  beginning  to  touch  each  other.  Ten 
years  later  we  find  here  a  thicket  of  saplings,  twenty  feet 
and  more  in  height,  the  lower  limbs  mostly  dead,  and.  the 
short  crowns  firmly  locked.  The  struggle  has  begun,  and 
if  no  trees  are  taken  out,  the  stronger  choke  the  weaker ; 
but,  and  this  is  the  serious  part,  the  weaker  also  hurt  the 
stronger  by  using  up  some  of  the  much-needed  water  and 
mineral  food  from  the  soil  and  hindering  the  growth  of 
both  limb  and  root. 

If  we  return  again  ten  years  later,  we  find  a  large 
number  of  trees  dead.  Others  are  dying,  and  the  living 
trees  have  grown  taller  and  their  stems  have  fewer  dead 
limbs.  The  trees  have  "  cleaned"  more  perfectly,  but 
they  have  grown  but  little  in  thickness ;  they  are  a 


CAEE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST 


99 


spindling  lot  of  thin  poles  with  a  little  crown  of  green 
limbs  altogether  too  small  for  thrifty  growth.  A  glance 
shows  that  the  stand  is  suffering  and  that  help  is  needed. 


23  14 

FIG.  34.     Which  should  come  out? 
(After  Kraft) 


Here  then  would  be  our  first  thinning,  and  the  question 
arises,  What  shall  we  take  out  ? 

A  study  of  Fig.  34  will  help  us.    Here  the  strongest  trees 
are   marked   No.  1 ;    they  represent  those  exceptionally 


100  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FOEESTEY 

vigorous  ones  which  project  above  the  general  level  of  the 
canopy  of  the  woods.  The  three  next  best  trees  are  marked 
as  No.  2  ;  they  represent  the  thrifty  trees  whose  crowns 
make  up  the  body  of  the  canopy.  Let  us  call  the  trees 
of  class  No.  1  and  No.  2  the  dominant  trees.  The  trees 
No.  3  are  weaker;  they  form  a  small  part  of  the  canopy 
and  give  little  promise  of  ever  making  good  trees.  Those 
of  No.  4  are  being  crowded  out,  and  those  like  No.  5  are 
dying  or  dead. 

If  our  piece  of  forest  were  twenty-five  years  old  and 
the  trees  about  thirty  feet  in  height  and  we  might  thin 
out  every  ten  years,  we  should  take  out  only  trees  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  classes;  and  also  such  trees  of  the  third 
class,  and  even  of  larger  size,  as  interfered  evidently  with 
some-  better  trees.  This  would  be  repeated  in  ten,  in 
twenty,  etc.,  years,  until  the  timber  should  be  cut. 

In  places  where  the  pole  wood  cut  during  the  first  and 
second  thinning  could  not  be  sold,  this  process  would 
cost  some  money;  for  the  material  cut  in  the  thinnings 
should  really  be  taken  out  to  prevent  the  development 
of  too  many  injurious  beetles.  For  this  reason  a  more 
thorough  thinning  would,  in  most  cases,  be  better ;  and 
then  most  of  the  trees  of  even  the  third  class  would  be 
taken  out. 

Where  the  young  growth  starts  from  natural  seeding, 
so  that  often  twenty  and  'more  trees  start  on  one  square 
foot,  the  crowding  begins  very  early  and  it  would  be 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST   101 

better  if  the  majority  of  little  plants'- were 'taken  out:  or 
destroyed  before  they  are  a  foot  h^gji:;* jTq  jlo^th&f^fill, 
would  cost  too  much,  and  the  forester  usually  leaves  the 
thicket  to  itself  until  it  is  about  twenty  years  old,  when  he 
thins  it  out  in  much  the  same  way  as  described  above. 


FIG.  35.     Thinned,  but  will  need  it  again 

To  get  a  better  idea  as  to  how  much  ought  to  be  cut 
it  may  be  said  that  for  pine  on  good  pine  land  there  ought 
not  to  be  left  more  than  ten  trees  on  one  square  rod  at  the 
age  of  twenty,  four  at  forty,  two  at  sixty,  and  one  at  a 
hundred  years,  as  tabulated  on  the  following  page. 


102  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

THE   NUMBER    OF   TREES   ON   ONE   ACRE   IF   FULLY   STOCKED 


'•'•.•••S.>:V  '; 

tu«t  «%       .FOB  PLNE 

FOR  SPRUCE 

is  OLD 

On  a  Good  Site 

On  an  Inferior 
Site 

On  a  Good  Site 

On  an  Inferior 

Site 

20  years  .     .     . 

1600 

2000 





40        '     .     ;  •••-;••; 

700 

1200 

1000 

2000 

60        '     .     .     . 

300 

600 

500 

800 

80       '     .     .     . 

200 

350 

300 

400 

100        '     .     .     . 

175 

250 

250 

300 

120        '     .     .     . 

150 

200 

225 

275 

By  dividing  these  figures  by  160  (the  number  of  square 
rods  in  an  acre)  we  can  readily  find  how  many  trees  we 
may  leave  on  one  square  rod. 

Many  foresters  are  guided  by  the  crowns  and  thin  just 
enough  to  keep  the  crowns  from  crowding. 

Naturally  enough,  trees  which,  like  spruce,  balsam, 
beech,  and  maple,  can  tolerate  much  shade,  are  thinned 
later,  and  must  be  thinned  less  thoroughly,  if  they  are 
to  clean  themselves  and  grow  smooth  stems,  than  the 
intolerant  kinds,  which  clean  more  easily.  On  the  whole, 
thinning  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  things  the  forester 
has  to  learn,  and  much  good  sense  and  care,  as  well  as 
experience,  are  needed  to  do  it  well. 

That  injured  and  crippled  trees  and  also  those  with 
unduly  spreading  crowns  should  be  taken  out  is  self- 
evident.  After  a  thinning  our  woods  should  be  evenly 
and  well  stocked  with  as  perfect  trees  as  can  be  produced. 


103 


104  FIRST   BOOK   OF    FORESTRY 

PROTECTION  AGAINST  INJURY  FROM  THE  ELEMENTS 

Fire.  —  For  our  American  forests,  fire  lias  been,  and  is 
even  now,  the  most  dangerous  enemy.  When  the  white 
man  first  came  to  this  country  he  found  an  undisturbed  con- 
tinuous forest  covering  the  eastern  United  States.  When 
the  "  cruisers "  of  forty  years  ago  located  timber  lands 
in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  there  were  few  extensive 
"burns,"  or  areas  where  the*  fire  had  converted  the  forest 
into  a  barren  waste.  To-day  many  millions  of  acres  are 
burns ;  large  ones  are  found  in  Maine,  Canada,  in  the 
Lake  States,  and  the  forests  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
The  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  Ranges  are  fairly  dotted 
with  unsightly  burns ;  and  even  the  ever-dripping,  fog- 
shrouded  forests  of  red  fir  in  Washington  have  suffered 
extensive  and  most  destructive  fires. 

Our  hardwoods  or  broad-leaved  forests  have  never  been 
ravaged  by  fires  to  any  great  extent;  fire  is  a  danger 
chiefly  of  the  coniferous  forest,  particularly  of  the  pineries 
covering  the  large  sandy  districts  of  both  the  North  and 
South  and  the  dry  mountain  forests  of  the  West. 

In  our  settled  districts  forest  fires  are  rather  uncommon 
and  the  danger  is  steadily  growing  less ;  but  in  our  large 
pineries,  and  wherever  extensive  lumbering  is  done  in 
coniferous  forests,  fires  are  of  common  yearly  occurrence. 
Now  and  then,  during  dry  seasons,  they  are  more  numerous 
and  some  of  them  become  truly  terrific. 


105 


106  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

The  Miramichi  fire  of  1825  in  New  Brunswick,  the  Pesh- 
tigo  fire  of  1871  in  Wisconsin,  the  great  fires  in  Michigan 
of  the  same  year,  and  the  great  Hinckley  fire  of  1894  in 
Minnesota  destroyed  several  towns  and  hundreds  of  farms ; 
they  cost  the  lives  of  many  hundreds  of  people  and  con- 
sumed millions  of  feet  of  timber. 

The  behavior  of  fire  differs  very  much  in  different  kinds 
of  woods  and  even  in  the  same  woods  at  different  times. 
In  Georgia  and  Florida  pineries  it  may  be  merely  a  light 
"  surface  fire/'  consuming  the  thin  layer  of  long  pine 
needles,  and  usually  traveling  along  at  a  very  moderate 
rate.  In  the  denser  parts  of  the  mixed  woods  of  the  Adi- 
rondacks  it  is  a  ground  fire,  eating  along  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth  and  in  the  dry  layer  of  the  duff  so  slowly  that  a 
whole  day's  burning  adds  only  an  acre  or  two  to  the  burn. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  fire  in  one  of  the  large  slashes, 
especially  in  the  drier  lake  countries  and  the  West,  may, 
after  it  gets  well  started,  travel  by  fits  and  leaps ;  and  the 
draft  is  often  so  great  that  burning  brands  are  carried 
through  the  air  for  several  hundred  yards,  lighting  new 
fires  as  they  fall.  Then  it  becomes  a  forest  fire  of  the 
dangerous  kind,  and  if  the  lone  settler  and  his  family 
have  any  great  distance  to  run  in  order  to  reach  a  large 
clearing  or  other  point  of  safety,  they  are  almost  sure  to 
be  overtaken  and  suffocated,  if  not  actually  burned. 

To  what  extent  the  woods  are  destroyed  by  the  fire 
differs  in  much  the  same  way.  In  the  southern  pinery  it 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION   OF  THE  FOREST        107 

may  be  only  the  litter  and  the  little  seedlings  and  young 
plants  which  are  cleaned  up;  in  the  mixed  woods  of  the 
Adirondacks  a  large  part,  often  all  the  timber,  dies  wher- 
ever the  fire  has  occurred  (see  Fig.  42) ;  in  the  Hinckley 
fire  the  forest  was  not  only  killed  for  miles,  but  in  many 
places  almost  everything  was  cleared ;  all  dry  limbs,  tops, 


FIG.  38.     The  Camp  Fire  as  it  should  be 

dead  timber,  standing  or  down,  were  entirely  consumed. 
In  a  dense  stand  of  green  pine,  balsam,  or  spruce  it  is  a 
common  thing  for  the  fire,  intensely  hot  as  it  is,  not 
merely  to  kill  all  the  trees,  but  to  burn  a  large  part  of 
the  limbs  with  their  resin-filled  leaves,  fairly  roaring  as 
it  shoots  up  one  tree  after  another,  and  often  flashing 
through  the  crowns  of  several  dozen  at  a  time.  A  few 
years  later  these  trees  are  all  bare  skeletons  (see  Fig.  3.6), 


108  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

ready  to  be  thrown  down  by  the  winds,  and  the  forest  is 
changed  into  an  impenetrable  tangle,  ready  for  another 
and  far  more  serious  fire. 

Fires  usually  start  in  the  woods  through  the  careless- 
ness of  man,  for  at  least  all  of  our  eastern  forests  were 
almost  free  from  large  burns  until  lumbering  and  settle- 
ment began.  A  common  cause  is  the  camp  fire  left  burn- 
ing in  the  woods.  To  go  away  from  a  camp  fire  without 
putting  it  out  is  gross  negligence. 

To  have  a  camp  fire  under  control,  it  should  be  built  in 
the  right  place.  To  build  a  fire  against  a  large  fallen 
trunk,  especially  large  rotten  logs,  to  start  it  on  a  thick 
bed  of  pine  or  spruce  leaves,  or  on  a  thick  layer  of  duff,  is 
a  common  mistake.  Such  a  fire  would  often  require  more 
than  a  hundred  pails  of  water  to  put  it  out.  A  better 
way  is  to  pick  out  a  clean  spot  —  for  a  mere  lunch  or 
dinner  fire,  a  sandy  or  gravelly  river  bar  or  similar  place 
—  and  then  to  build  the  fire  of  two  larger  sticks  and  an 
armful  .of  small  material,  as  shown  in  the  picture.  Such 
a  fire  is  convenient  to  cook  by  and  easy  to  put  out. 

Fires  are  sometimes  set  intentionally ;  more  often,  how- 
ever, they  start  from  clearing  land,  also  from  locomotives, 
and  even  from  lightning. 

To  fight  fire  in  the  woods  is  usually  difficult.  In  most 
cases  it  costs  considerable  time  and  effort  merely  to  locate 
it;  for  though  the  smoke  is  easily  seen  at  a  distance,  to 
find  the  fire  is  often  quite  a  task. 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST   109 

When  finally  it  is  located  it  may  be  half  a  mile  from 
the  nearest  water,  and  to  carry  water  even  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  through  ordinary  Adirondack  or  similar  wildwoods 
to  put  out  a  fire  covering  only  two  acres  of  land  would 
often  require  ten  men's  service  for  several  days,  and  the 
fire  would  most  likely  grow  beyond  control  instead  of 
being  extinguished.  For  this  reason  water  is  rarely  used, 
except  where  a  small  fire  is  just  starting,  as  when  we  wish 
to  put  out  the  neglected  camp  fire.  In  fact,  real  forest 
fires  are  not  usually  put  out  at  all ;  the  men  merely  try  to 
check  their  spreading  and  thus  restrict  them  to  as  small 
an  area  as  possible.  After  days  of  fighting  and  watching, 
the  fire  will  finally  die  out  or  else  be  extinguished  by 
rain.. 

In  places  where  former  fires  have  cleaned  all  the  dead 
and  dry  material  on  the  ground,  the  mere  beating  out  of 
the  fire  at  the  edges  and  cleaning  a  strip  twenty  to  thirty 
inches  wide  with  a  rake  does  good  service. 

Early  mornings  and  late  evenings  is  the  time  to  work, 
for  during  the  heat  of  ,the  day  the  fire  is  usually  so  hot 
that  men  cannot  work  near  it.  In  heavy  timber  where 
much  black  duff  covers  the  ground  the  raking  alone  is 
useless,  and  a  trench  must  be  made.  Such  a  trench,  if 
only  twelve  inches  wide,  is  a  good  barrier  against  a  slowly 
progressing  fire.  In  any  case  the  fire  must  be  watched, 
for  it  is  sure  to  cross  either  line  or  trench.  When  once 
the  heat  is  such  that  the  fire  travels  as  fast  as  a  man 


110  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FOKESTRY 

walks  and  begins  to  run  even  in  the  tops  of  the  trees,  as 
well  as  on  the  ground,  real  fighting  comes  to  an  end  and 
only  a  "  back  fire  "  is  of  any  use. 

A  back  fire  is  a  line  of  fire  set  by  the  men  to  meet  the 
main  fire.  Thus,  if  the  main  fire  travels  eastward  and 
has  a  front  of  three  hundred  yards,  the  men  run  on  ahead 
to  eastward  and  start  a  line  of  fires,  so  that  the  main  fire 
along  this  line  finds  most  of  the  material  consumed  and 
thus  loses  its  force,  and  in  favorable  cases  is  stopped 
entirely.  Such  a  back  fire  should  be  started  a  good  dis- 
tance from  the  main  fire,  often  half  a  mile  or  more  away, 
along  some  road,  trail,  creek,  or  raked  fire  line  or  trench. 
The  men  watch  the  back  fire  to  keep  it  from  crossing 
their  line.  If  it  is  to  succeed,  the  back  fire  should  have  a 
good  start,  and  burn  fifty  yards  or  more  before  it  meets 
the  main  fire.  Trenching  for  the  back  fire  is  best  done 
early,  as  soon  as  daylight ;  the  fire  had  better  be  started 
later,  so  that  it  will  burn  lively  at  once. 

"  An  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure  "  is 
an  old  saying  and  applies  to  the  forest  fire. 

Wherever  settlement  has  opened  large  fields  or  clearings 
between  tracts  of  forest  and  thus  divides  the  woods  into 
well-separated  blocks,  serious  forest  fires  no  longer  need 
be  feared. 

Even  a  moderate  amount  of  such  clearing,  together 
with  the  network  of  roads,  has  helped  to  protect  the 
pineries  of  the  South ;  and  in  New  Jersey  the  opening  of 


Ill 


112  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

broad  roadways,  as  fire  lanes,  through  the  larger  pine 
woods  is  contemplated,  in  order  to  prevent  fires  and  to 
help  in  fighting  them.  Such  a  system  of  fire  lanes  is 
used  in  the  larger  forests  of  Europe,  and  even  in  British 
India,  and  is  probably  the  best  means  of  protection  for 
many  of  our  extensive  coniferous  forests.  Since  hardwood 
forests  do  not  take  fire  as  readily  as  pine,  etc.,  strips  or 
belts  of  hardwoods  have  been  used  along  some  of  the 
railways  in  Europe  to  protect  the  pine  woods  from  the 
sparks  of  the  locomotives.  For  the  same  reason  it  is 
recommended  to  use  such  belts  of  hardwoods  to  break  up 
larger  bodies  of  pine,  etc.,  and  also  to  use  a  mixture  of 
hardwoods  with  conifers.  In  addition  it  is  necessary  that 
everybody  in  and  about  the  woods  should  watch  and  help, 
and  for  this  reason  should  know  the  danger  and  the  law. 

To  teach  and  to  warn  the  public,  the  authorities  of  sev- 
eral states  and  the  United  States,  as  well  as  many  private 
owners,  are  now  distributing  "  fire  notices  "  in  conspicuous 
places  along  roads,  trails,  and  streams  in  all  parts  of  the 
forest. 

Storms.  —  If  we  should  look  over  the  old  maps  of  the 
many  townships  of  Wisconsin,  we  would  see  so  many 
"  windfalls  "  marked  by  the  surveyors  that  it  would  seem 
as  if  Wisconsin  were  a  regular  storm  state.  This  would 
be  an  error,  for  a  trip  through  the  South  would  convince 
us  that  storms  have  there  been  more  frequent,  covered 
larger  areas,  acted  with  more  force,  and  destroyed  more 


113 


114 


FIRST   BOOK   OF  -FORESTRY 


timber.  Against  storms  the  forester  is  helpless.  Not 
so  with  regard  to  ordinary  winds.  Against  these,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  can  protect  the  woods  by  the  ordinary  selec- 
tion method  so  that  no  part  of  the  forest  is  ever  exposed ; 


FIG.  41.     The  Fires  have  cleaned  up 
(After  Bureau  of  Forestry) 

and  also  by  beginning  with  the  cutting  of  any  tract  or 
block  of  woods  on  the  east  side,  and  thus  working  in  the 
direction  from  which  the  prevailing  wind  comes. 

In  other  ways  the  elements  often  damage  forests. 
Frost  kills  young  plants ;  snow  loads  down  the  crowns  of 
weaker  trees  and  bends  them  low,  often  breaking  them ; 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST   115 

in  cold  weather  fog  and  rain  lay  a  covering  of  ice  on  all 
the  limbs ;  twigs  and  leaves  of  conifers,  and  frequently 
even  large  branches  are  broken  off  by  the  great  weight  of 
this  ice. 

By  selecting  hardy  kinds  of  trees  for  frosty  places,  and 
by  starting  young  growth  either  in  the  nursery  or  under 
the  protection  of  older  trees  the  forester  will  avoid  loss 
from  frost ;  but,  on  the  whole,  he  is  rather  powerless  against 
these  injuries,  which,  in  northern  localities,  do  considerable 
harm. 

PROTECTION  AGAINST  ANIMALS 

If  we  take  a  stroll  in  the  woods  during  summer  and 
look  for  animals  instead  of  trees,  we  shall  see  a  few  squir- 
rels, perhaps  a  rabbit,  and  many  little  paths  made  by  mice, 
though  probably  few  of  the  mice  themselves.  We  may 
also  see  a  number  of  birds  busily  hopping  and  flying  about 
and  finding  food  for  themselves  and  their  brood.  But  if 
we  sit  down  by  an  old  stump,  a  dead  or  newly  felled  tree, 
and  begin  to  look  for  smaller  things,  we  are  soon  convinced 
that  for  every  bird  and  larger  animal  we  see  dozens  and 
hundreds  of  the  "little  people,"  the  insects.  Troops  of 
ants  are  busily  looking  for  prey,  seizing  any  stray  cater- 
pillar, grub,  worm,  or  other  animal  they  can  master, 
carrying  it  off  bodily  or  tearing  it  to  pieces.  Little  hunt- 
ing beetles  go  singly,  exploring  every  crack  and  boring ; 
and  wee  little  brown  beetles  may  be  found  boring  in  the 


116  FIRST   BOOK   OF  FORESTRY 

bark  and  even  the  wood  of  the  newly  felled  stem.  Above  and 
around  us  we  notice  flies,  wasps,  millers,  and  butterflies,  and 
a  world  of  smaller  winged  insects  restlessly  flitting  about. 

Insects.  —  Of  all  animals  this  vast  army  of  the  "little 
people"  are  by  far  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  the  for- 
ests. Thus,  the  bark  beetle,  in  the  early  seventies,  ruined 
over  twenty-two  thousand  acres  of  spruce  in  Bohemia 
alone ;  the  caterpillar  of  the  nun  moth  devastated  in  East 
Prussia,  between  1853  and  1863,  over  two  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  acres,  killing  more  than  four  and  a  half 
million  cords  of  timber.  In  our  own  country  the  gypsy 
moth  has  become  the  terror  of  woodlands  in  Massachusetts, 
and  nearly  a  million  dollars  of  state  money  alone  has  been 
expended  in  fighting  it.  The  bark  beetles  have  destroyed 
enormous  quantities  of  timber  in  Maryland,  in  the  Vir- 
ginias, and  in  North  Carolina;  the  larva  of  a  sawfly  has 
destroyed  the  tamarack  in  the  Adirondacks  ;  the  tent  cater- 
pillar is  ravaging  many  of  our  hardwoods ;  while  tussock 
moth  and  bagworm  are  ruining  thousands  of  shade  trees 
as  well  as  trees  of  the  woodlands. 

The  "  little  people "  accomplish  these  great  feats  of 
destruction  through  their  ability  to  multiply  very  rapidly 
and  thus  to  act  in  immense  numbers.  The  mother  bark 
beetle  of  this  spring  may  be  represented  by  half  a  million 
of  her  offspring  before  the  end  of  the  second  season;  and. 
even  the  leaf-eating  moth  may  have  four  hundred  thousand 
descendants  in  a  period  of  only  three  years. 


118  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

The  mischief  done  by  forest  insects  is  very  varied.  The 
bark  beetles  kill  nearly  all  kinds  of  trees  by  a  queer  process 
of  girdling ;  the  moths  operate  through  their  larvae,  the 
caterpillars,  and  usually  kill  by  eating  the  leaves  and 
buds  ;  the  weevils  destroy  young  plants ;  the  pruner  beetles 
injure  by  gnawing  off  the  young  tips ;  gall_gnats  and 
plant _Jlce  do  damage  by  the  production  of  galls;  scale 
insects  suck  the  juice,  and  thereby  cripple  the  leaves  and 
injure  the  bark;  while  the  mole__cricket  and  other  insects 
gnaw  young  roots,  and  thereby  often  destroy  the  smaller 
plants.  But  even  after  the  tree  is  dead  its  wood  is  still 
liable  to  be  spoiled  for  most  uses  by  some  long-horned 
beetles  and  their  larvae,  the  "  sawyers,"  as  well  as  the 
regular  timber  beetles.  Of  all  these  the  bark  beetles  and 
moths  with  their  larvae,  the  grubs,  and  caterpillars,  are 
by  far  the  worst  enemies  of  the  forest. 

Let  us  examine  these  more  closely.  In  Fig.  46  we 
have  the  bark  beetle  and  its  work.  In  the  spring  these 
tiny  beetles  fly,  usually  in  pairs,  and  hunt  up  some  suitable 
tree.  After  they  have  found  what  they  want,  usually 
some  large,  old  or  injured  tree,  they  bore  through  the 
bark,  and  the  female  soon  begins  to  bore  a  passage  or 
gallery,  either  altogether  in  the  soft  bark  or  else  partly  in 
the  bark  and  partly  in  the  wood,  as  shown  in  the  figure. 

Along  this  passage  she  lays  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
eggs,  distributing  them  along  both  sides.  When  the 
eggs  hatch  the  little  grubs  begin  to  bore  in  the  direction 


FIG.  43.     The  Imported  Elm  Leaf  Beetle  (Galerucella  luteola} 

a,  foliage  of  European  elm,  showing  method  of  work  of  beetle  and  larva ;  6,  adult 
beetle ;  c,  egg  mass ;  d,  young  larvse ;  e,  full-grown  larva ;  g,  pupa  —  all 
greatly  enlarged ;  /,-moutli  yartft-of  full-grown  larva  —  still  more  enlarged. 


(After  Howard) 


119 


120 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


a 


away  from  the  gallery  of  the  mother  beetle,  and  thus  the 
many  little  parallel  galleries  and  odd  patterns  seen  in  the 
figure  are  produced  by  this  one  family.  After  a  few 
weeks  the  grub,  or  larva,  wraps  itself  up  in  the  wood  dust 
made  by  its  tunneling,  and  about  three  weeks  later  has 

changed  into  a  beetle.  This 
beetle  may  bore  out  at  once 
and  hunt  another  tree  and 
thus  repeat  the  cycle,  so  that 
a  second  or,  in  some  cases, 
even  a  third  brood  is  produced 
during  the  same  season. 

Examining  the  figure,  it  is 
evident  that,  if  many  such 
families  lived  in  this  same 
branch,  the  branch  would  be  fairly  girdled ;  each  little 
gallery  would  hinder  the  water  from  going  up,  and  also 
hinder  the  food  made  by  the  leaves  from  coming  down, 
and  the  effect  would  be  exactly  as  if  the  bark  were  stripped 
and  the  tree  girdled.  As  soon  as  these  beetles  appear  in 
large  numbers,  so  that  a  hundred  and  more  occur  on  every 
square  foot  of  the  trunk,  the  tree  is  doomed.  It  is  generally 
believed  that  these  beetles  prefer  sickly  or  dying  trees ;  but 
it  is  certain  that  when  once  they  are  very  numerous  they 
readily  attack  sound  as  well  as  injured  trees. 

Some  bark  beetles  occur  in  our  woods  at  all  times  ;  but 
it  is  only  when  then-  enemies  are  asleep,  and  when  numerous 


FIG.  44.     Pine  Weevil:  Adult 

Beetle,   Pupa,  and  Grub, 

or    Larva  (enlarged) 

(After  Packard) 


CAKE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST   121 

injured,  sickly,  or  dying  trees  make  it  especially  "easy 
for  beetles  to  get  food  and  multiply,  that  they  become 
really  dangerous. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  a  well-kept  piece  of  woods, 
where  all  trees  are  thrifty  and  the  puny,  crippled,  or  over- 


FIG.  45.     Scale  Insect  on  White-Pine  Leaves 

At  2 a  is  a  bunch  of  ordinary  leaves  for  comparison;   2,  twig  and  stunted  leaves 
covered  by  scale  insect;  26,  2c,  female,  and  2d,  male  of  scale  insect  (enlarged) 

ripe  trees,  and  also  all  dead  timber,  are  regularly  cut  out, 
is  not  likely  to  be  infested  by  bark  beetles.  Should  they 
come  from  a  neighboring  badly  kept  piece  of  woods,  the 


122 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


only  effective  way  of  fighting  them  is  by  cutting  a  number 
of  "  trap  trees."  This  is  best  done  by  girdling  or  felling 
a  number  of  the  smaller,  poorer  trees,  about  fifty  yards 


FIG.  46.     Bark  Beetles  and  their  Work 

A,  Galleries  on  a  block  of  wood,  just  beneath  the  bark ;  B,  the  bark  beetle  Tomicus ; 
C,  the  bark  beetle  Dendroctonus.  Natural  size  is  indicated  by  straight  line 
between  beetles 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST       123 

apart,  all  over  the  piece  of  woods,  if  it  is  small,  or  per- 
haps only  in  that  part  where  the  beetles  have  begun  their 
work.  In  the  milder  part  of  our  country  the  first  set  of 


FIG.  47.     A  Destroyer  of  Forest  and  Shade  Tree  :  the  White- 
Marked  Tussock  Moth 

a,  larva ;  6,  female  pupa ;  c,  male  pupa ;  d,  e,  male  moth ;  /,  female  moth ;  g,  same 
depositing  eggs ;  h,  egg  mass ;  i,  male  cocoons ;  k,  female  cocoons,  with  moths 
carrying  eggs.  (After  Howard) 


124  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

trees  should  be  cut  about  the  middle  of  May ;  in  the  South 
this  should  be  done  earlier,  in  the  North  later.  A  fresh  set 
should  then  be  cut  each  month  until  fall.  Each  set  of 
trap  trees,  with  all  twigs  and  smaller  branches,  should  be 
burned  whenever  a  new  set  of  trees  has  been  prepared. 
If  the  work  is  successful,  the  beetles  are  attracted  by 
the  felled  trees  and  bore  into  them  in  large  numbers. 
When  the  trees  are  taken  out  and  the  bark  is  burned 
it  catches  the  young  brood,  since  they  have  not  yet 
changed  into  beetles  and  escaped.  Generally  these  trap 
trees  catch  a  large  number  of  other  wood-boring  vermin 
besides  the  common  beetles. 

The  second  group  of  dangerous  forest  insects,  the 
moths,  differ  very  much  from  the  bark  beetles  in  their  way 
of  living  and  behavior. 

Thus,  the  white-marked  tussock  moth,  shown  in  Fig.  47, 
in  central  New  York,  for  instance,  lays  its  eggs  about  the 
middle  of  July.  These  eggs  keep  through  the  winter 
and  hatch  the  following  spring,  the  young  caterpillar 
emerging  about  the  end  of  May.  The  caterpillar  feeds 
on  the  leaves  of  whatever  tree  it  may  be  on,  and  grows  to 
full  size  by  the  end  of  June.  Then  it  "  spins  up,"  i.e.,  it 
attaches  itself  to  the  bark  on  a  limb  or  the  trunk  of  the 
tree  and  spins  around  itself  a  cocoon,  in  which  it  stays 
as  a  pupa  for  about  two  weeks  while  it  changes  from  a 
caterpillar  into  a  moth  or  miller.  Soon  after  the  moths 
come  out  of  the  cocoons  the  female,  which  in  this  species 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST   125 

has  only  dwarfed  wings  and  therefore  does  not  fly,  begins 
to  lay  her  eggs.     These  she  lays  in  clusters,  sometimes 


FIG.  48.     Fall  Webworm 

a,  moth;  6,  pupa  (out  of  cocoon);  c,  caterpillar;  d,  piece  of  web  with  caterpillar 
hanging  by  its  own  thread ;  e,  moth  and  cocoon  on  board  and  twig 

containing  three  hundred  or  more  eggs,  and  covers  them 
with  a  white  frothy  matter  which  dries  and  protects  the 
eggs  during  the  winter.  After  this  the  female  moth  dies 
at  once.  In  warmer  districts,  as  in  Maryland  and  Virginia, 


126  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

the  eggs  hatch  much  earlier,  and  instead  of  having  only 
one  whole  generation  of  the  insects  in  a  year,  as  in  the 
North,  there  are  as  many  as  three,  so  that  the  number  of 
insects  increases  very  rapidly. 

With  most  of  the  moths  that  are  dangerous  to  our  for- 
ests, both  male  and  female  are  winged  and  fly.  All  of 
them  pass  through  the  four  distinct  stages :  egg,  cater- 
pillar, pupa,  and  adult  or  moth ;  and  all  are  injurious  only 
in  the  caterpillar  state. 

Though  some  moths  may  be  found  in  our  woods  every 
season,  it  is  only  at  long  intervals  that  they  become  real 
pests  and  cause  great  damage ;  and  even  then  the  calamity 
rarely  lasts  many  years  in  succession. 

Since  the  caterpillars  live  on  green  leaves  and  buds, 
trees  of  all  sizes  and  ages  are  liable  to  their  attack.  Some 
kinds  of  caterpillars  prefer  hardwoods,  some  conifers; 
some  eat  all  kinds,  while  a  few  of  them  eat  leaves  of  only 
one  or  a  few  kinds  of  trees. 

Where  the  caterpillars  attack  a  pure  stand  of  spruce 
or  pine  forest,  so  that  every  tree  furnishes  the  most 
desirable  kind  of  food,  the  trouble  is  naturally  much 
greater  than  in  a  mixed  stand,  where  possibly  half  of 
all  the  trees  are  entirely  safe  from  the  attack  of  this 
particular  insect. 

To  prevent  the  ravages  of  caterpillars,  the  forester  can 
do  but  little.  Where  the  land  and  climate  permit,  it  is 
well  to  raise  only  mixed  woods.  Generally  it  is  well  to 


cab 
FIG.  49.     One  of  the  Greatest  Friends  of  the  Forest 

Upper  figure,  ichneumon  fly :  d,  as  an  adult  fly ;  a,  6,  as  a  grub.  Lower  figure, 
destruction  of  caterpillar  by  ichneumon :  a,  caterpillar  with  eggs  of  ichneumon 
(white  on  dark  area) ;  6,  egg  (enlarged) ;  c,  dark  area  with  eggs  (enlarged) ; 
d,  larvae  of  ichneumon  feeding  on  pupa;  e,  pupa  of  caterpillar  destroyed, 
larvae  of  ichneumon  in  pupa  state 

127 


128  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

keep  the  woods  well  cleaned  and  thinned ;  and  in  all  cases 
we  should  encourage  and  protect  all  kinds  of  insect-eating 
birds  and  also  such  animals  as  the  shrew,  mole,  and  bat. 

In  Europe  large  sums  have  been  expended  in  collecting 
egg  masses  as  they  cling  to  the  bark  of  trees,  also  in  col- 
lecting the  pupae  and  killing  the  young  caterpillars  while 
they  are  still  in  large  clusters  together. 

.  These  methods  have  also  been  tried  in  our  country, 
but  only  for  the  protection  of  shade  trees.  In  Bavaria 
and  other  states  all  the  trees  of  entire  forests  have  been 
supplied  with  rings  of  a  special  sticky  preparation,  which 
keeps  the  newly  hatched  caterpillars  from  climbing  the 
stem  and  causes  them  to  perish  in  large  numbers. 
Though  this  has  been  successful  in  some  cases,  it  is 
generally  too  expensive, 

When  once  the  caterpillars  exist  in  large  numbers 
man's  efforts  are  entirely  in  vain;  for  while  it  is  quite 
easy  to  spray  a  few  peach  trees  when  infested,  the  use  of 
a  poison  spray  in  the  woods  is  out  of  the  question;  the 
trees  are  too  large  and  the  cost  too  great. 

Fortunately,  the  multiplication  of  the  injurious  insects, 
whether  bark  beetles  or  caterpillars,  causes  a  multiplica- 
tion of  their  strongest  enemies,  —  predaceous  and  para- 
sitic insects,  and  disease. 

A  large  number  of  widely  differing  kinds  of  insects  are 
hunters  and  live  exclusively  on  other  insects,  eating  or 
destroying  them  in  every  state,  preferably.as  larvae  (grubs, 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST       129 

worms,  caterpillars),  and  also  in  the  egg.  Thus,  one  of 
the  ladybird  beetles  was  specially  imported,  and  is  used 
by  the  fruit  growers  of  California  to  subdue  one  of  the 
worst  scale  insects.  But  while  these  many  useful  hunting 
insects  undoubtedly  do  great  service  in  keeping  down  the 
numbers,  thus  preventing  a  real  calamity  of  destructive 
insects,  it  is  chiefly  the  parasites,  together  with  diseases, 
which  shorten  and  stamp  out  the  insect  plague  when  once 
it  exists. 

A  typical  case  where  a  parasitic  insect  is  making  itself 
useful  to  the  forester  is  shown  in  Fig.  49.  Here  one  of 
our  common  ichneumon  flies,  by  depositing  its  eggs  on  a 
caterpillar,  insures  its  destruction.  Commonly  the  cater- 
pillar is  killed  even  before  it  is  able  to  spin  up  or  enter 
the  pupa  state,  and  never  does  it  get  beyond  this.  Since 
the  ichneumons  usually  have  more  than  one  generation  dur- 
ing one  season,  their  number  multiplies  rapidly.  These 
little  wasplike  insects  move  rapidly  from  caterpillar  to 
caterpillar,  stinging  and  depositing  their  eggs,  one  or 
several,  as  they  go,  and  rarely  attack  a  caterpillar  which 
has  already  be,en  stung  by  one  of  their  kind.  In  this  way 
they  not  only  kill  leaf -eating  caterpillars,  but  attack  the 
larvae  (grubs)  of  beetles,  and  thus  are  the  best  and  most 
powei^ul  animal  friends  of  the  forest. 

Diseases  usually  help  in  destroying  forest  caterpillars 
whenever  they  become  very  abundant.  This  is  especially 
true  during  wet  seasons  and  in  moist  localities.  Some  of 


130  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

the  diseases  are  due  to  ordinary  fungus  plants,  similar 
to  those  which  kill  our  house  flies  in  the  fall  of  the 
year,  when  they  may  be  seen  clinging  to  window  panes, 
surrounded  by  a  ring  of  dustlike  spores  (seeds  of  fungi). 

Insect  pests  in  pine  and  spruce  are  usually  much  more 
serious  than  in  hardwoods,  since  conifers  generally  are 
not  so  resistant  as  the  broad-leaved  trees.  If  the  leaves 
of  a  pine  tree  are  eaten  off,  it  is  quite  sure  to  die ;  while  a 
maple  may  survive  though  it  loses  its  leaves  two  seasons 
in  succession. 

From  what  we  have  learned  it  is  clear  that  the  leaf- 
eating  insects  help  the  bark  beetles,  and  also  that  these 
latter  are  favored  wherever  the  forest  trees  are  injured  by 
storm  and  snow  or  by  fire,  and  even  when  they  are  in  a 
weakened  condition  from  poverty  of  soil  or  lack  of  mois- 
ture. Thus,  things  are  very  apt  to  go  from  bad  to  worse, 
even  in  the  woods. 

Mammals.  —  Of  the  larger  animals  it  is  chiefly  the 
rodents  —  mice,  rabbits,  and  squirrels  —  and  also  the 
grazers  —  deer,  sheep,  goats,  and  cattle  —  which  become 
injurious  in  forests. 

The  mice  and  rabbits  injure  young  trees  by  gnawing 
the  bark ;  mice  and  squirrels  eat  the  seeds ;  while  the 
grazing  animals  browse  off  the  leaves  and  green  shoots 
of  young  trees  and  thus  cripple  and  often  destroy  them. 
Where  cattle  and  sheep  go  in  larger  numbers,  or  where  a 
small  flock  has  the  run  of  a  small  wood  all  summer,  they 


CARE  AND  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FOREST   131 

naturally  trample  out  many  young  seedlings  and  thus  pre- 
vent the  starting  of  any  young  growth.  To  keep  down 
mice  and  rabbits  it  is  usually  sufficient  to  protect  or  quit 
hunting  their  natural  enemies,  the  owl  and  the  hawk 
(buzzard),  the  fox,  weasel,  and  mink. 

Where  a  farmer  has  not  enough  pasture  and  feels  that 
he  must  use  his  woods,  it  has  been  found  best  to  let  cattle 
in  part  of  the  woods  and  keep  them  out  of  those  portions 
where  a  young  growth  is  to  be  started.  After  the  sap- 
lings are  ten  feet  high  they  are  well  out  of  reach  of  the 
animals,  and  the  place  may  then  be  opened  to  cattle. 

On  the  whole,  grazing  and  the  growing  of  timber  do  not 
go  well  together ;  for  if  the  forest  is  as  dense  as  it  should 
be,  there  is  but  little  grass,  and  the  animals  are  poorly  fed 
and  constantly  tempted  to  roam  and  browse.  Sheep  and 
cattle  generally  do  not  eat  pine,  spruce,  and  other  conifers. 

PROTECTION  AGAINST  INJURIOUS  PLANTS 

In  our  walk  through  a  piece  of  wildwoods  we  noticed 
fungus  growths,  little  upturned  shelves  on  beech  and 
maple,  wherever  they  had  been  blazed  or  notched  with 
the  ax. 

Were  we  to  look  a  little  more  closely,  we  should  find  a 
great  deal  of  such  growth  and  learn  that  fungi,  too,  rank 
among  the  enemies  of  our  woods.  The  amount  of  destruc- 
tion in  old  wildwoods  is,  naturally,  very  great,  for  here  it 


132  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

is  necessary  that  the  wood  of  dead  trees  be  converted  into 
dust  to  prevent  the  ground  from  becoming  covered  with 
dead  timber.  Such  a  cover  would  bring  all  forest  growth 
to  a  standstill,  there  would  no  longer  be  room  for  trees, 
and  its  destruction  by  fungi,  therefore,  is  useful.  It  is 
Nature's  way  of  clearing  the  ground  for  new  generations 
of  trees.  But,  like  many  useful  things,  these  fungi  overdo 
their  work,  and  at  the  slightest  provocation  attack  good, 
thrifty  trees.  Thus,  if  a  wind  tears  off  the  large  limb  of 
a  maple,  beech,  birch,  poplar,  or  other  perishable  kind  of 
tree,  fungi  at  once  begin  their  work  of  destruction ;  the 
interior  begins  to  decay;  limbs  and  stem  are  hollowed  out; 
the  tree  is  weakened  and  becomes  an  easy  prey  to  bark 
beetles  or  a  storm.  Once  on  the  ground,  a  few  years  in 
our  moister  districts  suffice  to  convert  the  trunk  and  all 
into  a  powdery  mass  of  decayed  wood,  which  is  spread  out 
by  insects  and  water,  and  thus  helps  to  improve  the  soil 
for  a  new  growth.  Though  the  trees  with  perishable 
woods  are  more  subject  to  this  injury  than  those  in  which 
resin  and  other  substances  make  the  wood  more  durable, 
yet  all  kinds  of  our  trees  suffer  more  or  less.  Thus,  even 
the  durable  cypress  is  injured  by  a  fungus,  which  causes 
it  to  become  "  pecky,"  and  our  white  cedars  are  generally 
"hollow  butted,"  the  stump  being  decayed  so  much  that 
it  is  a  common  defect  of  cedar  timber. 

From  this  it  appears  that  clean  woods,  composed  of 
thrifty,  uninjured  trees,  suffer  much  less  from  injurious 


USE   OF   THE   EOKEST  133 

fungi,  and  also  that  especially  the  more  sensitive  trees, 
like  maple,  beech,  spruce,  etc.,  cannot  stand  being  hacked 
and  scalped  with  the  ax,  or  barked  in  felling  and  dragging 
out  timber,  but  are  almost  sure  to  suffer  further  injury  if 
thus  hurt. 

In  the  South  and  West  the  mistletoe  is  a  factor  in  the 
destruction  of  trees.  In  California  many  of  the  noble 
white  oaks  are  yielding  their  lives  to  this  parasite. 

USE   OF  THE   FOREST 

We  have  already  learned  how  to  start  new  growth  and 
how  to  care  for  it,  and  thereby  keep  up  the  forest.  Let  us 
now  consider  what  we  may  get  from  the  forest  and  how 
the  material  is  usually  taken  out  and  used. 

To  primitive  man  the  forest  gave  meat,  shelter,  and 
fuel.  At  the  beginning  of  our  era  the  people  of  central 
and  northern  Europe,  and  nearly  all  of  the  people  of  North 
America,  obtained  their  food  by  hunting  and  fishing.  With 
us  to-day  the  forest  no  longer  furnishes  meat ;  the  people 
are  too  many,  the  .forests  too  small. 

But  while  it  no  longer  furnishes  our  meat,  it  still  sup- 
plies the  great  mass  of  our  fuel,  as  well  as  the  lumber  and 
timber  for  the  houses  which  shelter  us.  In.  addition  it 
was  the  forest,  with  its  large,  soft,  easily  shapen  timbers, 
which  alone  made  it  possible  for  the  ancient  Phoenicians  to 
trade  with  the  people  of  the  North  Sea,  and  for  Columbus 


134  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

to  find  the  New  World ;  and  even  to-day  a  large  part  of 
our  people  and  goods  are  carried  in  thousands  of  wooden 
ships,  landing  at  hundreds  of  miles  of  costly  wooden  wharfs. 
Our  thousands  of  miles  of  railway  rest  on  millions  of 
wooden  ties,  and  cross  on  thousands  of  miles  of  wooden 
trestles  and  bridges.  The  grain  and  goods  of  our  land  are 
hauled  in  wooden  boxes  and  barrels,  on  wooden  wagons, 
in  wooden  cars,  and  are  housed  in  wooden  structures; 
and,  in  spite  of  the  great  progress  of  our  times,  we  still 
finish  even  the  finest  of  parlors  in  wood;  we  prefer  a 
wooden  chair  and  table  to  any  other,  and  the  choicest  of 
furniture  is  of  wood  in  its  natural  colors  and  appearance. 
One  of  our  greatest  needs,  that  of  cheap  paper,  was  sup- 
plied only  when  man  learned  to  make  paper  from  the 
common  product  of  our  forest.  Nor  is  this  all,  for  the 
very  mines  which  supply  us  with  coal  for  fuel  and  with 
iron  for  our  manufactures  require  millions  of  feet  of  tim- 
ber every  year,  if  they  are  to  be  worked  with  any  degree 
of  'economy. 

Thus,  we  see  that  the  forest  was  necessary  to  the  sav- 
age ;  that  on  the  forest  depended  the  progress  of  our  race ; 
and  that  even  to-day,  in  this  age  of  steel,  the  product  of 
the  forest  is  used  in  greater  quantities  and  supplies  a 
greater  variety  of  demands  than  ever  before. 

Let  us  examine  a  little  more  in  detail  the  ways  in 
which  some  of  our  farmers  utilize  their  woods. 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST 


135 


CUTTING  TIMBER 

Season.  —  Generally  the  work  in  the  woods  is  done  in 
winter.     This  is  better,  since  the  cold  retards  or  prevents 


FIG.  50.     Cutting  Spruce  in  the  Adirondacks 
(After  W.  F.  Fox) 

fungi  from  spoiling  the  wood  by  "  bluing"  or  discoloring, 
or  by  starting  decay.     It  is  also  much  better  on  account 


136  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

of  insects,  for  during  winter  these  pests  are  inactive,  practi- 
cally dormant,  and  thus  they  do  not  injure  the  timber 
which  is  cut,  nor  does  the  felling  lead  to  an  increased 
multiplication  of  these  ever-present  enemies  of  the  forest. 
Besides  this,  there  is  little  work  on  the  farm  during  winter, 
and  thus  help  is  more  easily  procured.  To  this  must  be 
added,  in  colder  districts  at  least,  the  advantages  gained 
by  a  good  fall  of  snow,  which  makes  it  so  much  easier  to 
drag  and  haul  timber. 

Firewood.  —  For  this  it  is  customary  to  use  only  such 
pieces  as  will  make  nothing  better.  For  ordinary  house 
use,  all  tops,  the  trunks  of  short,  crooked,  or  otherwise 
unsalable  trees,  and  in  many  cases  even  stumps,  are  used. 
If  the  firewood  is  to  be  sold,  it  is  better  to  grade  it  so 
that  the  better  and  poorer  kinds  are  not  mixed,  as  is  so 
often  done ;  for  a  few  sticks  of  poor  wood  give  the  whole 
pile  a  bad  appearance  and  thus  lower  its  price.  Usually 
firewood  is  cut  in  four-foot  lengths  and  stacked  in  piles 
four  feet  high  and  eight  feet  long,  such  a  pile  being  one 
cord.  A  cord  is  a  legal  measure,  and  as  such  requires  that 
the  pile  be  four  feet  wide,  or  in  ordinary  cases  that  the  pieces 
be  cut  four  feet  long.  Where  people  buy  stove  wood  sixteen 
to  eighteen  inches  long,  the  cord  is  frequently  meant  to  be 
a  pile  of  this  short  wood  four  feet  high  and  eight  feet  long, 
and  thus  is  really  but  about  a  third  of  a  cord. 

In  all  cases  there  is  much  air  space  between  the  pieces 
of  such  a  pile,  and  though  the  pile  contains  one  hundred 


FIG.  51.     The  Tools  we  use 


crosscut  saw  ;  b,  peavey,  to  turn  logs  ;  c,  ax  ;  of,  billhook  ;  e,  broadax,  to  hew 
logs  ;  /,  frow,  to  split  or  rive  shingles 
137 


138 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


and  twenty-eight  cubic  feet,  there  are  only  about  ninety 
cubic  feet  of  solid  wood  in  a  regular  cord. 

Larger  pieces  are  split  to  allow  a  better  drying  or  sea- 
soning, and  split  wood  is  always  preferred  to  round  pieces. 


FIG.  52.     Skidding  Spruce  Logs  in  the  Adirondacks 
(After  W.  F.  Fox) 

A  cord,  as  ordinarily  cut,  contains  about  two  hundred 
pieces  and  weighs,  when  fresh,  about  four  to  five  thousand 
pounds. 

For  ordinary  use  the  heavy  woods,  like  oak,  hickory, 
beech,  maple,  etc.,  and  especially  the  "  second  growth," 
are  preferred.  The  lighter  kinds,  like  poplar  and  bass- 
wood,  are  not  readily  sold  for  this  purpose. 


USE   OF   THE   FOEEST 


139 


Of  late  years  many  farmers  haul  their  firewood  in  large 
pieces  to  some  convenient  place  near  the  house,  and  saw 
it  into  stove  lengths  with  horse  power  or  threshing  engine. 

Since  firewood   cannot    be  used   economically  without 


FIG.  53.     "  Scaling,"  or  measuring  and  stamping  or  marking 
Spruce  Logs 

(After  W.  F.  Fox) 

being  first  seasoned,  it  is  often  advisable  to  keep  firewood 
one  year  on  the  pile,  so  as  to  get  this  advance  in  value 
and  at  the  same  time  make  easier  hauling. 

To  leave  firewood  in  large  piles  in  the  woods  is  always 
a  bad  policy,  for  nearly  all  kinds  of  wood  commence  to 


140  EIEST   BOOK   OF   FOKESTKY 

decay  under  such  circumstances,  and  perishable  woods, 
like  beech,  maple,  and  birch,  will  lose  as  much  as  twenty- 
five  per  cent  of  their  value  in  one  year. 

Pulp  Wood.  —  In  the  vicinity  of  pulp  mills,  soft  woods 
like  spruce,  poplar,  aspen,  balsam,  and.  also  hemlock,  pine, 
bass  wood,  tulip  poplar,  and  others,  can  usually  be  sold  to 
good  advantage. 

Since  the  pulp  mill  can  use  small  pieces,  down  to  two 
feet  in  length  and  four  inches  in  diameter,  a  great  deal  of 
the  sapling  material,  which  should  be  taken  out  in  thin- 
nings, can  thus  be  utilized. 

For  pulp  the  wood  should  be  green,  sound,  straight, 
and  as  free  from  knots  as  possible ;  in  other  words,  just 
such  wood  as  grows  in  a  close  stand,  where  the  trees  are 
obliged  to  clean  early. 

Pulp  wood  is  sold  by  the  cord,  and  when  rossed,  i.e., 
the  bark  taken  off,  it  sells  as  high  as  ten  dollars  per  cord. 

Pulp  is  made  from  the  wood  in  two  distinct  ways, — 
by  grinding,  and  by  maceration  with  chemicals.  In  mak- 
ing "  ground  "  pulp  the  blocks  of  wood  are  held  and  pressed 
by  a  machine  against  a  large  grindstone  on  which  a  small 
stream  of  water  is  playing  all  the  time.  In  this  way  the 
fine  particles  of  wood  which  are  ground  away  are  carried 
off  by  the  water  into  large  vats. 

This  coarse,  mushy  wood  pulp  is  then  sifted,  washed, 
and  stirred,  and  finally  passes  over  an  endless  piece  of 
cloth,  where  it  is  freed  from  the  water.  After  this  it  may 


141 


142  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

merely  be  pressed  into  a  soft,  pasteboard-like  paper,  baled, 
and  shipped  to  regular  paper  mills  without  drying,  or  else 
it  is  made  at  once  into  ordinary  paper,  such  as  is  used  by 
newspapers. 

In  making  "  chemical  pulp,"  or  "  cellulose,"  as  it  is 
called,  the  blocks  are  chipped  into  short,  small  pieces,  the 
fragments  of  knots  are  sifted  out,  and  the  rest  of  the 
wood  is  placed  in  large  boilers  called  digesters,  where  it 
is  boiled  in  a  solution  of  sulphite  of  lime,  more  rarely  of 
caustic  soda.  During  the  boiling  the  digester  is  kept 
firmly  closed,  so  that  a  steam  pressure  of  about  a  hundred 
pounds  per  square  inch  is  developed.  The  boiling  is  con- 
tinued for  about  six  hours  if  soda,  and  for  twenty -four 
hours,  and  even  longer,  if  sulphite  of  lime  is  used.  In 
this  boiling  the  wood  softens  and  becomes  mushy.  It  is 
then  ground,  washed,  and  finally  treated  in  the  same  way 
as  ground  pulp. 

The  cellulose,  or  chemical  pulp,  is  much  finer  than 
ground  pulp,  and  can  be  used  for  ordinary  papers  without 
any  bleaching. 

One  cord  of  spruce  gives  about  six  to  eight  hundred 
pounds  of  chemical  pulp  or  twelve  hundred  pounds  of 
ground  pulp.  So  far,  nearly  all  pulp  is  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  paper. 

Acid  Wood.  —  In  some  districts  of  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  and  other  states  "acid  factories"  require  large 
quantities  of  wood,  preferably  beech,  maple,  and  birch. 


USE   OF   THE  FOREST 


143 


This  industry  usually  demands  sound,  split  "body,"  or 
log  wood,  fifty-two  inches  instead  of  forty-eight  inches 
long,  so  that  the  acid  men  get  nearly  one  and  a  tenth 
cords  for  each  cord  they  buy.  In  making  acid  the  wood 


FIG.  55.     Rolling  in  Spruce  Logs  on  Ampersand  Creek 

is_heated  for  about  ten  hours  in  large  steam-boiler-like 
vessels  called  retorts.  As  the  wood  grows  hotter  and 
hotter  it  gives  off  gases,  part  of  which  are  cooled  into 
liquids  in  a  "  worm  "  or  coiled  tube,  kept  cool  by  a  stream 


144  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

of  cold  water.  The  greater  part  of  these  liquids  is  wood 
vinegar,  and  a  small  portion  pure  acetic  acid,  wood  alcohol, 
and,  toward  the  last  of  the  heating,  some  creosote  and  tar. 
The  wood  vinegar  is  employed  in  dye  works ;  the  alcohol 
by  painters,  hat  makers,  and  in  chemical  works  ;  while  the 
acetic  acid  is  largely  used  for  vinegar. 

The  retort  usually  holds  about  two  thirds  of  a  cord  of 
wood,  and  an  ordinary  factory  of  twenty-four  retorts  thus 
requires  about  sixteen  cords  for  each  charge.  They  usu- 
ally run  night  and  day,  refilling  every  twelve  hours,  so 
that  one  of  these  factories  uses  eight  thousand  cords  or 
more  per  year. 

Posts.  —  In  former  years,  when  most  of  our  farms  were 
surrounded  with  rail  fences,  commonly  of  the  "  worm- 
fence  "  type,  enormous  quantities  of  good  oak,  chestnut, 
and  other  timber  were  converted  into  fence  rails.  Wher- 
ever logs  have  a  reasonably  good  market  this  wasteful 
use  of  timber  is  disappearing,  and  wire  or  "  wire-slat  " 
fences  are  taking  the  place  of  the  old  forms.  This  still 
requires  the  use  of  posts,  so  that  both  for  home  use  and, 
in  many  localities,  also  for  the  market  it  pays  to  raise 
timber  for  fence  posts. 

Since  durability  is  the  first  quality  in  a  fence  post, 
only  durable  woods,  like  black  locust,  catalpa,  chestnut, 
white  oak,  cedar,  redwood,  and  kindred  woods  should 
be  offered;  and  the  post  should  always  be  large  enough 
so  that  the  heartwood,  the  only  durable  part,  is  sufficient 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST  145 

to  hold  whatever  the  post  is  intended  to  support.  Flimsy 
sap  wood  posts  of  cedar  or  any  other  timber  can  only 
injure  the  market,  for  it  is  here  as  in  all  kinds  of  dealing, 
—  good  or  poor  ware  and  good  or  poor  measure  make 
and  unmake  the  market. 

Where  posts  are  in  good  demand  it  will  often  pay  to 
treat  a  few  acres  of  the  woods  as  coppice.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  rotation  is  short,  and,  of  course,  only  durable 
woods  like  white  oak,  chestnut,  locust,  catalpa,  mulberry, 
etc.,  should  be  used. 

Railway  Ties.  —  With  durable  timber,  the  trees  twelve 
to  sixteen  inches  diameter,  breast  high,  and  also  the  upper 
logs  of  larger  trees  are  often  profitably  cut  into  railway 
ties.  These  ties  are  usually  required  eight  feet  long, 
seven  inches  thick,  with  two  parallel  faces  eight  inches 
wide,  and  all  bark  removed ;  thus,  each  contains  about  five 
cubic  feet  of  wood.  When  in  the  track  one  face  is  down 
and  the  other  supports  the  steel  rail.  Ties  are  usually 
hewn  to  finish  wherever  the  tree  is  felled.  A  common 
way  is  to  fell  the  tree,  hew  two  faces  as  far  up  from  the 
butt  as  the  stem  is  suited  to  make  ties,  and  then  to  cut 
the  ties  with  the  crosscut  saw. 

Formerly  railway  companies  would  buy  only  hewn  ties, 
but  of  late  years  most  companies  accept  sawed  ties  as  well. 
The  sawing  may  be  done  by  a  small  portable  sawmill, 
and  the  tie  is  either  sawed  only  on  two  faces  or  else  is 
squared,  i.e.,  sawed  on  four  sides.  This  sawing  is  better 


146  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

than  the  hewing;  it  makes  a  neater  tie  and  furnishes 
slabs  which  may  be  used  for  fencing,  sheds,  etc. 

Usually  it  pays  to  select  the  longest  and  straightest 
pieces  and  saw  them  into  bridge  and  switch  ties,  or  for 
trestle  timber,  for  which  better  prices  are  paid. 

About  sixty  per  cent  of  all  our  ties  are  made  of  white 
oak;  nearly  twenty  per  cent  are  pine  ;  the  rest  are  red- 
wood, cedar,  cypress,  chestnut,  etc.  White-oak  ties  gen- 
erally bring  about  fifty  cents  or  more  per  tie,  delivered 
at  the  track. 

Many  of  our  railway  companies  keep  posters  at  their 
stations,  offering  to  buy  ties;  and  nearly  everywhere 
good  contracts  may  be  made  by  one  or  by  several  farmers 
acting  together  to  furnish  this  kind  of  timber.  Since 
every  mile  of  railway  needs  about  twenty-five  hundred 
ties,  and  there  are  over  two  hundred  thousand  miles  of 
such  roads  in  our  country,  it  takes  millions  of  acres  of 
timber  to  supply  a  single  set  of  ties.  Such  a  set  has  to 
be  replaced  about  every  seven  years,  and  thus  it  is  that 
the  railways  rank  among  the  greatest  consumers  of  wood 
in  the  land. 

Poles  and  Piling. — Long,  slender  poles  of  chestnut, 
white  oak,  cedar,  and  other  durable  kinds  of  trees  are 
often  best  sold  as  telegraph  and  telephone  poles  and  for 
piling.  For  these  purposes  long,  straight,  and  durable  sticks 
are  wanted.  They  run  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  feet  in 
length,  with  an  upper  diameter  from  five  to  eight  inches. 


USE   OF   THE   FOKEST  147 

The  telegraph  poles  must  be  peeled.  Piling  pieces, 
which  are  driven  in  the  ground  for  support  of  bridges, 
and  even  houses,  are  generally  preferred  with  the  bark 
intact. 

The  price  paid  for  this  class  of  timber  is  generally  good, 
ranging  from  two  to  ten  dollars  apiece  ;  but  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  find  a  buyer  beforehand,  to  avoid  having  to 
store  such  timber  for  any  length  of  time. 

Mining  Timber.  —  In  the  neighborhood  of  coal  and 
other  mines,  many  owners  of  woodlands  find  a  good 
market  for  a  variety  of  logs  to  be  used  as  props  and 
other  supporting  timbers.  Most  of  this  material  serves 
to  hold  up  the  earth  in  the  shafts  or  tunnels,  and  quite  a 
variety  of  sizes  as  well  as  kinds  are  employed.  Since 
wood  decays  very  rapidly  in  mines,  the  more  permanent 
structures  are  usually  built  of  durable  woods,  such  as  oak 
and  chestnut ;  but  in  other  parts,  or  in  localities  where 
durable  woods  are  costly,  such  perishable  woods  as  pine, 
maple,  birch,  hemlock,  etc.,  are  employed. 

The  logs  are  commonly  delivered  in  the  rough,  and  are 
sawed  and  fitted  by  a  special  sawmill  at  the  mine. 

Export  Timber.  —  Occasionally  special  prices  are  offered 
to  woodsmen  for  large,  choice  logs  of  walnut,  cherry, 
yellow  poplar,  and  other  kinds  of  timber,  to  be  shipped 
abroad. 

Export  logs  are  graded  mostly  by  size  (diameter),  the 
larger  sizes  bringing  the  best  prices.  They  are  commonly 


148  FIEST  BOOK   OF  FOKESTKY 

peeled,  and  their  ends  painted  to  avoid  undue  checking; 
and  in  many  districts  they  are  "  rough  hewn,"  i.e.,  hewn 
so  that  part  of  the  original  round  surface  is  left  on  the 
timber.  This  hewing  makes  it  easier  to  store  them  in 
the  holds  of  the  ships  that  carry  them  abroad. 

Ship  Timbers.  —  In  former  years  many  men  along  our 
north  Atlantic  coast  were  engaged  in  getting  out  timber 
for  the  numerous  shipyards.  The  hull  of  the  wooden  ship 
of  those  days  had  almost  solid  walls  of  heavy  timbers, 
covered  inside  and  out  with  thick  planks,  fastened  with 
locust-tree  nails ;  and  the  decks  rested  on  beams  supported 
at  each  side  by  short,  heavy,  bracket-shaped  pieces  of 
timber  called  ships'  knees. 

Though  white  oak  was  preferred,  nearly  all  kinds  of 
timber  were  used  in  these  ships.  Since  the  larger  timbers, 
ribs,  etc.,  had  to  be  shaped  according  to  the  plan  of  the 
particular  ship,  they  could  not  be  bought  in  lumber  yards  ; 
so,  as  soon  as  the  size  and  plans  of  the  ship  were  decided 
upon,  crews  of  men  would  go  to  the  woods  and  hew  out 
the  many  pieces.  Knees  and  spars  (masts  and  other 
long  poles)  were  usually  kept  in  yards,  and  many  men 
made  it  a  business  to  hew  out  knees  or  scour  the  coast 
and  the  river  valleys  for  fine,  straight  spar  timber.  Some 
fine  white-pine  masts  brought  as  much  as  two  hundred 
dollars  apiece.  To-day  the  ship  carpenter  has  largely 
been  displaced  by  the  boiler  maker,  and  ships  are  built 
of  steel,  shaped  in  rolling  mills.  Nevertheless,  much 


USE    OF   THE   FOREST  149 

timber,  chiefly  lumber  for  flooring,  decking,  and  the  fin- 
ishing of  cabins,  etc.,  is  still  used ;  and  occasionally  crews 
of  ship  carpenters  go  inland  to  hew  out  a  few  sets  of 
timbers. 

Cooperage  and  Wagon  Stock.  —  The  fine  grades  of  white- 
oak  staves  and  headings  for  the  manufacture  of  barrels 
for  liquids,  and  also  white-oak  and  hickory  spokes  and 
fellies  used  in  wheels  of  wagons  and  buggies  are  split  out 
of  large,  sound  timber,  mostly  butt  cuts,  and  many  farmers 
and  other  people  are  engaged  every  year  in  this  kind  of 
work.  Though  the  prices  are  usually  good,  this  industry 
is  apt  to  be  very  wasteful,  since  so  many  logs  do  not  split 
well  enough  and  are,  therefore,  left  unused.  Like  the  tan- 
bark  man,  the  cooperage  and  spoke  man  should  be  com- 
bined with  the  lumberman,  so  that  all  the  logs  unfit  for 
staves  or  spokes  may  be  sawed  into  boards  and  planks. 

Besides  the  fine  barrels  and  casks  for  coal  oil,  turpen- 
tine, wine,  etc.,  the  cooper  also  makes  barrels  for  sugar, 
apples,  flour,  cement,  lime,  salt,  and  other  dry  materials. 
These  barrels  are  called  slack  barrels;  the  staves  are 
sawed,  and  of  late  years  shaved  off  with  large  machines. 

Nearly  all  kinds  of  timber,  but  particularly  elm,  red 
oak,  ash,  beech,  birch,  and  maple  for  staves,  and  bass- 
wood  and  poplar  for  the  headings,  are  used  in  this  indus- 
try. The  logs  or  bolts  are  brought  to  the  mills  by  farmers 
and  others  and  sold  by  the  cord.  The  logs  should  be 
over  ten  inches  in  diameter  and  should  be  two  or  three 


150  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

times  as  long  as  the  stave,  the  length  varying  with  the 
different  sizes  of  the  barrels. 

Where  a  wagon  shop  is  near  by,  it  is  often  profitable  to 
cut  smaller  second-growth  timber  into  wagon  axles,  bol- 
sters, and  wagon  tongues,  and  sell  small  trees  of  elm  and 
birch  for  hubs. 

Lumber.  —  Wherever  a  lack  of  pulp  mills  and  other 
factories  makes  it  impossible  or  unprofitable  to  utilize  the 
larger  logs  in  any  better  way,  they  can  always  be  sawed 
into  lumber.  Lumber  is  a  general  term  for  all  kinds  of 
boards  and  timber  shaped  with  the  saw. 

Lumber  in  our  country  is  generally,  but  not  always, 
cut  in  lengths  of  even  feet,  eight,  ten,  twelve,  fourteen, 
etc.,  the  most  common  lengths  being  twelve,  fourteen,  and 
sixteen  feet,  and  in  widths  of  even  inches. 

In  thickness  lumber  varies  usually  by  a  quarter  of  an 
inch,  and  ranges  from  one  half  to  twenty  inches ;  the  thinner 
pieces,  one  quarter  to  one  and  three  quarters  inches  thick, 
being  called  boards  (planks  in  the  South) ;  those  two  to  four 
inches  thick  are  planks ;  and  thicker  material  is  timber. 

Lumber  is  measured  by  the  superficial  foot,  which  is  a 
board  one  inch  thick,  twelve  inches  wide,  and  twelve  inches 
long,  so  that  a  board  one  inch  thick,  six  inches  wide,  and 
twelve  feet  long  measures  six  feet  board  measure,  — 
written  six  feet  B.M.,  —  and  a  plank  two  inches  thick, 
twelve  inches  wide,  and  sixteen  feet  long  contains  thirty- 
two  feet  B.M. 


151 


152  FIBST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Lumber  is  graded  chiefly  according  to  size  and  defects, 
such  as  knots,  cracks,  discolored  or  decayed  spots,  and 
unequal  thickness.  A  board  entirely  free  from  any  of 
these  defects  is  "  clear,"  and  it  is  evident  that  young  trees 
and  badly  cleaned  trees  are  not  likely  to  furnish  much  of 
this  valuable  material.  Generally  hardwoods  are  graded 
much  more  severely  than  conifers,  and  the  cheaper  always 
more  severely  than  the  dearer  kinds. 

For  flooring,  decking,  and  other  purposes,  boards  are 
often  classified  into  "  rift "  and  "  bastard,"  or  tangent,  as 
it  should  be  called.  In  rift  boards  the  rings  stand  nearly 
vertical,  or  never  less  than  forty-five  degrees  to  the  sur- 
face, as  seen  in  Fig.  58.  Rift  boards  shrink  less  and  wear 
better,  and  therefore  bring  better  prices. 

Lumber  is  regular  merchandise  in  all  parts  of  our  coun- 
try, and  every  town  has  its  lumber  yards,  just  as  it  has 
other  stores,  where  regular  lines  of  lumber,  in  stock  sizes 
and  grades,  may  be  bought.  > 

Aside  from  firewood  the  greater  part  of  all  timber  in 
our  country  is  cut  into  lumber,  and  it  has  been  estimated 
that  over  thirty  billion  feet  B.M.  were  used  each  year 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Of  this  enormous 
amount  about  seventy-five  per  cent  is  pine,  spruce,  hemlock, 
red  fir,  and  other  coniferous  material,  and  twenty-five  per 
cent  oak,  ash,  elm,  and  other  hardwoods.  Of  the  conifers 
the  white  pine  has  for  years  furnished  about  fifty  per  cent, 
while  of  the  hardwoods  about  thirty-five  per  cent  is  oak. 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST 


153 


Pine,  spruce,  etc.,  are  mostly  cut  by  large  crews  of 
regular  lumbermen,  and  are  sawed  in  large  mills,  but  the 
hardwood  lumber  comes  mostly  from  the  farm  and  is  cut 


FIG.  58.     End  of  Log,  showing  Rift  and  Bastard  Cuts 

Cuts  a  and  b  make  all  rift  or  quarter-sawed  material ;   but  c  and  d  are 
nearly  all  tangent  or  bastard  cut 

in  small  country  mills.  Of  the  several  kinds  of  coniferous 
lumber  a  few  are  of  such  great  importance  that  we  should 
know  a  little  more  about  them. 


154  FIBST   BOOK   OF   FOBESTRY 

White  pine  is  the  most  important  lumber  in  our  country, 
and  has  been  so  ever  since  its  settlement.  Formerly 
an  abundance  of  white  pine  was  cut  in  New  England, 
New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  but  of  late  the  greater  part 
comes  from  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota.  White- 
pine  lumber  is  kept  in  all  yards  of  the  northern  states, 
as  far  west  as  Dakota;  but  the  largest  markets  for  this 
lumber  are  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Minneapolis,  and  Buffalo. 
White  pine  is  used  chiefly  as  building  lumber,  being  soft, 
light,  insect  proof,  and  always  to  be  had  in  any  quantity 
in  all  reasonable  sizes  arid  all  grades ;  it  has  become  one 
of  the  favorite  materials,  is  used  for  a  greater  variety  of 
purposes,  and  brings  a  better  price  than  any  other  of 
the  common  kinds  of  lumber. 

In  the  South,  where  a  broad  belt  of  pineries  stretches 
along  the  coast  from  Virginia  to  Texas,  there  are  three 
varieties  of  hard-pine  lumber,  which  are  cut  in  large 
quantities  and  are  shipped  not  only  to  all  the  northern 
and  eastern  markets,  but  also  find  their  way  to  many 
foreign  markets. 

Of  these  the  longleaf  or  Georgia  pine  lumber  is  the 
most  important.  Georgia  pine  is  cut  mostly  into  timbers 
of  long  lengths,  twenty  feet  or  more,  and  used  for  sup- 
ports in  large  structures,  in  bridges,  trestles,  for  car  sills, 
etc.  A  considerable  amount  of  this  timber  is  exported  to 
Europe,  the  West  Indies,  and  South  America  under  the 
name  of  pitch  pine,  but  by  far  the  greater  part  is  either 


USE   OF   THE  FOREST  155 

used  at  home  or  shipped  to  our  larger  eastern  and  north- 
ern markets.  Among  the  most  important  points  of  manu- 
facture and  shipment  are  :  Savannah  and  Brunswick,  Ga. ; 
Jacksonville  and  Pensacola,  Fla. ;  Mobile,  Ala. ;  Pasca- 
goula,  Miss. ;  Lake  Charles,  La. ;  and  Beaumont,  Texas. 

The  North  Carolina  pine  is  cut  in  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  made  mostly  into  boards,  and  is  marketed  at 
Norfolk  and  Baltimore,  and  has  become  a  common  article 
even  in  the  retail  lumber  yards  of  our  eastern  and  northern 
towns.  It  is  often  called  yellow  pine  and  is  extensively 
used  as  flooring  and  ceiling,  especially  in  schools  and  other 
public  buildings,  where  the  bright  orange-red  and  yellow 
patterns  of  this  material  are  brought  out  strongly  by  a 
"  natural  "  or  oil  finish. 

The  yellow  pine  marketed  in  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City, 
and  points  in  Texas  is  cut  mostly  from  the  true  shortleaf 
pine  of  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Texas,  and  northern  Louisiana. 
It  is  cut  into  all  sizes,  boards  and  timber,  and  is  the  com- 
mon building  material  of  these  regions. 

The  yellow  pine  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  parts  of 
California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  resembles  the  eastern 
yellow  pine,  but  is  cut  from  a  different  species  of  tree. 
It,  together  with  red  fir,  forms  the  common  building 
material  as  well  as  the  principal  mining  timber  of  these 
mountain  states. 

Spruce  is  the  common  timber  of  the  "white-pine  state  " 
of  Maine,  and  of  New  England  and  eastern  Canada.  It 


156  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

is  cut  into  a  greater  variety  of  sizes,  odd  lengths  and  odd 
widths  not  being  uncommon.  Though  smaller  and  more 
knotty  than  pine,  spruce  also  furnishes  a  common  building 
material,  and  is  used  in  large  quantities  and  for  almost 
everything  from  shingle  to  sill. 

Red  jir,  Oregon  fir,  and  Oregon  pine  are  three  names 
for  the  same  tree  and  the  same  kind  of  lumber.  Red-fir 
lumber  is  cut  in  largest  quantities  in  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington, but  considerable  quantities  are  also  manufactured 
in  California  and  the  Rocky  Mountain  countries.  It 
resembles  hard-pine  lumber  in  appearance,  quality,  and 
uses,  but  since  the  trees  of  Oregon  and  Washington  grow 
to  very  large  sizes,  two  hundred  feet  or  over  in  height 
and  three  to  six  feet  in  diameter,  perfectly  clear  pieces  of 
unusual  size  are  obtained,  and  it  is  this  great  perfection 
of  red  fir  which  permits  its  export  to  distant  countries,  — 
Japan,  China,  Siberia,  Australia,  etc. 

Redwood  is  a  product  of  California  and  is  cut  from 
large  trees  of  the  cedar  family.  It  is  a  dark,  brownish- 
red,  soft,  and  light  material  of  great  durability  and  there- 
fore of  an  unusual  range  of  usefulness.  It  is  the  common 
lumber  of  parts  of  California,  and  considerable  quantities 
are  exported,  especially  in  the  form  of  sawed  shingles. 

Cypress  is  a  tree  of  the  southern  swamps  and  has  of 
late  years  become  one  of  the  important  lumber  trees  of 
our  country.  Cypress  is  often  logged  with  special  machin- 
ery; it  is  cut  mostly  into  boards,  planks,  and  shingles, 


> 

s    8 


157 


158  FIEST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTEY 

and  has  become  a  strong  rival  of  white  pine.  Louisiana, 
Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  and  the  Carolinas  all  share  in 
the  manufacture  of  cypress. 

Hemlock  is  a  much  despised  and  very  much  underrated 
material,  which,  in  spite  of  its  bad  name,  is  one  of  our 
most  useful  building  materials.  Though  apt  to  be  a  little 
shaky  and  somewhat  prone  to  warp  and  sliver,  hemlock 
is  used  everywhere  in  the  East  for  studding,  joists,  and 
sheathing  in  frame  houses,  for  sidewalks,  fences,  and  boxes ; 
and  of  late  years  entire  houses,  shingles,  laths,  and  all,  have 
been  built  of  this  Cinderella  among  our  conifers. 

A  large  proportion  of  pine  and  other  coniferous  lumber 
is  manufactured  into  finished  flooring,  siding,  ceiling,  etc., 
by  the  planing  mills  which  are  to  be  found  in  connection 
with  most  of  our  larger  modern  sawmills. 

Hardwood  lumber  is  usually  cut  into  planks,  one  to 
three  inches  thick,  or  else  into  timber  for  particular  pur- 
poses, such  as  bridge  and  car  timber,  wagon  axles,  etc. 
It  is  commonly  sold  in  the  rough,  i.e.,  it  is  not  planed 
and  otherwise  finished  like  pine  lumber,  though  of  late 
maple,  birch,  oak,  and  yellow  poplar  are  offered  quite 
extensively  in  the  forms  of  flooring,  ceiling,  siding,  and 
other  finished  products. 

If  we  look  about  us  to  see  where  most  of  our  lumber 
goes,  and  what  it  is  used  for,  we  find  that  the  great  mass 
of  pine  and  other  coniferous  lumber  is  used  in  building 
houses  of  all  kinds.  The  carpenter  is  greatly  assisted  in 


159 


160  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

his  work  by  having  lumber  of  definite  sizes  and  grades. 
Thus,  in  building  an  ordinary  frame  house  with  walls 
sixteen  feet  high,  he  need  not  shape  the  frame  pieces,  but 
orders  sixteen-foot  studding  and  thus  saves  a  great  deal 
of  extra  work.  Moreover,  the  owner  also  saves  a  great 
deal  of  material  by  this  arrangement,  since  the  sixteen- 
foot  pieces  all  fit,  and  but  little  of  his  lumber  is  cut  into 
short,  useless  pieces.  Formerly  hardly  any  hardwood 
timber  ever  entered  in  the  construction  of  an  ordinary 
house,  but  of  late  years  much  hardwood  is  used  as  finish- 
ing lumber,  i.e.,  for  floor,  ceiling,  doors,  etc. 

The  carpenter's  lumber  should  be  light  to  handle,  soft 
to  nail  and  saw  ;  it  should  dry  without  much  warping,  and 
it  should  be  safe  against  insects.  On  the  other  hand, 
most  of  it  need  not  be  pretty,  since  it  is  covered  up ;  and 
it  need  not  be  very  strong  or  tough,  since  it  is  rarely 
heavily  loaded  or  jarred. 

The  desirable  combination  of  qualities  for  house-build- 
ing material  is  found  in  most  conifers,  but  in  very  few 
hardwoods,  and  our  frame  house  will  cease  to  be  common 
wherever  pine  and  other  coniferous  lumber  becomes  scarce. 

Most  of  our  hardwood  lumber  is  used  for  all  kinds  of 
furniture  and  implements.  In  a  table  or  chair  the  pieces 
need  not  be  long  or  broad,  nor  need  they  be  light  and 
soft.  On  the  contrary,  they  must  be  firm  and  strong, 
quite  tough,  and,  in  addition,  they  should  have  a  pleasing 
appearance. 


USE   OF   THE   FOKEST  161 

In  getting  out  logs  for  lumber  it  is  usually  better  to 
fell  the  tree  with  the  crosscut  saw,  cutting  as  near  to  the 
ground  as  possible.  In  the  white-pine  districts  contracts 
commonly  call  for  stumps  eighteen  inches  or  less  in  height, 
and  there  is  no  good  reason  why,  in  logging  good  oak, 
ash,  etc.,  any  man  should  make  a  three-  or  even  four-foot 
stump,  and  thus  waste  at  least  ten  per  cent  of  the  best 
part  of  the  tree.  These  large  stumps,  moreover,  become 
breeding  places  for  insects  and  harbor  fungi,  and  thus  are 
a  menace  as  well  as  a  loss. 

In  measuring  and  marking  off  the  logs  a  great  deal  of 
waste  may  be  avoided  if  the  woodsman  has  clearly  in 
mind  what  kind  of  goods  he  wants  to  make  of  his  timber. 
For  all  small  jobs  it  pays  well  either  to  do  it  oneself  or 
else  to  engage  an  experienced  man  and  give  him  clear 
instructions  as  to  what  should  go  into  saw-logs,  ties, 
poles,  etc. 

The  skidding  is  mostly  done  by  dragging  the  log  on 
the  ground.  Especially  for  hardwoods  men  use  a  "  go- 
devil,"  or  simple  sled,  often  made  of  a  crotch  or  fork  of 
two  large  limbs.  Where  this  is  done  one  end  of  the  log 
is  placed  on  the  sled  and  thus  prevented  from  striking 
against  many  obstacles. 

The  work  of  loading  and  of  hauling  to  the  mill  varies 
for  different  localities.  In  cold,  snowy  districts  this  is 
done  most  cheaply  on  sleighs ;  in  other  localities,  with 
wagons,  which  of  course  is  far  more  expensive. 


162  FIEST   BOOK   OF  FOEESTEY 

In  most  localities  farmers  still  sell  their  logs  commonly 
"  on  the  stump,"  i.e.,  in  the  woods.  This  is  rarely  a  good 
plan,  as  the  buyer's  workmen  care  too  little  for  the  woods, 
damage  trees  in  dragging,  and  cut  too  much  yourig  growth 
that  they  may  get  as  near  as  possible  to  the  logs  with 
sled  or  wagon.  Selling  at  the  mill  is  better.  Some  men 
have  their  logs  cut  on  shares,  and  then  haul  and  sell  the 
lumber  to  the  neighboring  retail  lumber  yard.  This  is 
the  right  way,  but  unfortunately  the  retailer  is  too  often 
disposed  to  take  advantage  of  the  farmer  in  grading 
and  price,  preferring  generally  to  buy  of  the  wholesale 
dealer  rather  than  get  his  goods  in  small  lots  from  his 
neighbors. 

This  is  avoided  in  some  localities  where  farmers  coop- 
erate and  run  a  small  mill  of  their  own,  using  one  or  two 
threshing  engines  for  power  and  "  swapping  work  "  as  in 
threshing  time.  In  this  way  a  number  of  farmers  cut 
each  year  a  large  amount  of  lumber,  which,  after  season- 
ing in  the  pile  one  or  even  more  years,  is  readily  taken 
by  some  wholesale  merchant  at  much  better  prices  than 
can  usually  be  secured  from  the  retailer.  In  addition, 
this  method  always  supplies  the  neighborhood  with  good 
seasoned  material  for  home  use. 

The  regular  lumbering  in  the  remote,  unsettled  forests 
of  our  country  is  carried  on,  of  course,  on  a  much  larger 
scale.  In  such  work  camps  have  to  be  built,  comprising 
cook's  shanty,  men's  quarters,  barn,  smithy,  office,  and 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST  163 

often  a  large  storehouse;  and  provision  is  made  to  dine 
seventy-five  and  more  men  at  one  sitting. 

Much  preparatory  work  must  be  done.  Roads,  dams, 
or  railways  must  be  built,  and  supplies  hauled  to  the 
camp  from  distant  railway  stations.  The  logging  itself, 
for  instance,  in  white-pine  woods  proceeds  then  about  as 
follows :  Some  of  the  men  go  in  pairs,  each  pair  with 
a  crosscut  saw,  felling  the  trees  and  cutting  them  into 
logs.  Another  set  skid  the  logs,  i.e.,  drag  them  out  of  the 
woods  to  the  roads,  and  with  the  universal  "  peavey  "  roll 
them  up  into  piles  on  skidways.  Still  another  set  haul 
them  to  the  neighboring  stream,  where  a  "landing"  is 
cleared,  on  which  the  whole  season's  cutting  is  piled 
up.  The  hauling  is  done  on  sleighs,  and  on  a  road  which 
has  been  carefully  laid  out  so  that  there  are  no  uphill 
pulls,  and  one  which  is  kept  clean  during  all  the  hauling 
and  sprinkled  with  water  or  "  iced  "  nearly  every  night. 
When  the  winter's  work  is  over,  and  spring  opens  the 
stream  and  fills  it  with  water,  the  "  driving  "  begins.  A 
set  of  men  roll  the  logs  into  the  water,  and  men  go  along 
the  stream  to  keep  them  moving.  The  logs  always  catch 
on  the  banks,  or  on  obstacles  of  some  kind,  and  form 
"jams,"  which  have  to  be  broken  and  rebroken  whenever 
formed.  In  smaller  streams  the  ordinary  flow  of  water 
is  not  sufficient,  and  the  brook  must  be  "  splashed  "  or 
flooded,  i.e.,  the  dam  built  during  the  summer  before  is 
opened  as  often  as  a  good  head  of  water  exists,  or  as  often 


164  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

as  is  necessary,  and  thus,  artificially,  a  flood  is  produced 
which  carries  the  logs  farther  and  farther.  In  good 
streams  this  is  a  cheap  way  to  transport  logs ;  in  small 
crooked  streams  it  is  not. 

The  logging  of  spruce  in  Maine  and  other  states  is 
done  very  much  in  the  same  way.  In  the  southern 
pineries  logging  is  carried  on  by  means  of  railways,  the 
skidder  dragging  or  hauling  the  logs  directly  to  the  railway. 
Here  the  work  goes  on  all  the  time ;  a  log  cut  to-day  is 
hauled  to  mill  to-morrow,  sawed  next  day,  and  passes  at 
once  into  a  dry  kiln,  to  prevent  the  boards  from  "  bluing," 
or  becoming  dark. 

Cypress  is  mostly  dragged  out  of  the  large  miry  swamps 
with  huge  wire-rope  machinery;  and  the  monstrous  logs  of 
redwood  and  red  fir  of  the  Pacific  coast  are  logged  by 
means  of  heavy  teams,  —  six  to  twelve  yoke  of  oxen  or 
teams  of  horses,  —  or  else  are  dragged  together  and  loaded 
on  cars  by  means  of  donkey  engines  and  wire  cables. 

ESTIMATING  AND  MEASURING  TIMBER 

When  a  man  buys  a  lot  of  standing  timber,  or  when  a 
lumberman  or  farmer  prepares  for  the  winter's  logging, 
he  wishes  to  know  beforehand  approximately  how  much 
timber  he  is  likely  to  get  from  the  tract  of  land  he  is  about 
to  cut  over.  In  most  districts  of  our  country  this  is  still 
done  by  estimating  or  counting  the  trees  and  guessing  at 
their  contents. 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST  165 

On  a  small  piece  of  woodland  this  work  is  quite  simple, 
but  when  the  estimating  is  to  be  done  in  some  unsettled 
forest  district,  where  the  only  landmarks  consist  of  dim 
blaze  lines  made  by  surveyors  years  ago,  separating  only 
one  section  or  square  mile  from  another,  it  is  necessary 
not  only  to  estimate  timber,  but  also  to  know  where  we 
are.  Thus,  a  section  has  sixteen  forty-acre  lots,  and  four 
of  these  are  interior  "  forties "  which  have  no  marked 
boundaries.  To  know  when  he  is  on  one  of  these  forties 
and  on  what  part  he  is  estimating,  the  man  uses  the  same 
methods  which  the  mariner  employs  on  the  high  sea ;  he 
uses  a  compass  so  that  he  may  always  know  where  he  is 
going,  and  he  counts  his  paces  to  know  how  far  he  has 
gone,  and  for  this  reason  these  travelers  of  the  woods  are 
often  called  cruisers. 

Formerly  only  the  log  or  saw  timber  was  considered, 
but  of  late  years  the  number  of  posts,  ties,  telegraph 
poles,  even  the  amount  of  cord  wood,  is  estimated. 

In  estimating  a  large  tree  we  guess  its  diameter  and 
the  number  of  logs  which  it  will  cut.  Suppose  we  guess 
the  tree  to  be  twenty-four  inches  in  diameter,  breast  high, 
or  four  feet  from  the  ground,  and  to  cut  three  logs,  each 
sixteen  feet  long,  and  that  we  believe  the  bark  to  be  about 
one  inch  and  a  half  thick  at  the  base ;  also  suppose  that 
the  tree  tapers  about  one  inch  for  every  eight  feet  in 
length.  Then  the  first  log  is  about  twenty-one  inches  in 
diameter  at  the  butt,  or  base  (without  bark),  and  nineteen 


166  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

inches  in  diameter  at  the  top  end ;  the  second  is  seventeen 
inches  at  the  top,  and  the  third  fifteen  inches  at  the  top. 
Looking  in  our  table  (Appendix  I),  we  find  that  by  the 
Doyle  rule  these  logs  contain, 

The  first  one 225  feet  B.M. 

The  second  one 169  feet  B.M. 

The  third  one 121  feet  B.M. 

Total,  515  feet  B.M. 

which  means  that  five  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  B.M.  of 
boards  may  be  cut  from  the  logs  of  this  tree,  provided 
the  logs  are  straight  and  sound.  Usually  this  is  not  quite 
the  case,  and  ten  to  thirty  per  cent,  according  to  the 
quality  of  timber,  must  be  deducted  for  "  defects." 

After  some  practice  in  a  forest  the  estimator  or  cruiser 
commonly  decides  that  the  trees  generally  cut  one  and  a 
half,  two,  or  three  logs  per  tree,  and  also  that  it  takes 
about  eight,  twelve,  or  twenty  of  these  logs  to  make  a 
thousand  feet  B.M. 

Thus,  in  ordinary  eastern  spruce,  the  trees  cut  about 
three  logs  per  tree  and  it  takes  about  fifteen  to  twenty 
logs  to  make  a  thousand  feet  B.M.,  so  that  the  estimator 
finally  decides  that  about  five  trees  make  a  thousand  feet 
B.M.  After  this  he  merely  counts  the  trees  and  divides 
by  five,  to  find  how  many  thousand  feet  B.M.  he  has  esti- 
mated. In  old  white  pine  he  would  find  that  it  takes 
about  two  trees  to  make  a  thousand  feet  B.M.  (write  M 
feet  B.M.),  and  in  large  red  fir  and  redwoods  one  tree  often 
would  make  five  to  ten  M  feet  B.M.,  and  even  more. 


USE   OF   THE    FOREST 


167 


In  such  estimates  poles  are  merely  counted ;  the  number 
of  ties  follows  from  the  number  of  trees,  i.e.,  the  estimator 
decides  that  the  trees  which  would  naturally  be  cut  for 
ties  generally  cut  three,  four,  etc.,  ties ;  while  figures  for 
cord  wood  and  posts  are 
usually  mere  guesswork, 
which  have  value  only 
when  they  come  from  a 
very  experienced  man. 

Where  a  large  piece,  say 
a  forty-acre  tract,  is  to  be 
estimated,  and  the  timber 
is  at  all  valuable,  it  is  best 
to  work  in  an  orderly  way. 
We  find  the  corner  A  and 
go  along  the  line  AB  ten 
rods ;  then  we  go  north  ten 
rods  to  station  No.  1.  Here 
we  put  down  our  staff  so 
that  we  keep  the  right  spot,  for  there  are  no  fences  or  other 
convenient  landmarks  to  guide  us,  and  then  we  begin  to 
count  and  estimate  all  the  trees  in  the  square  of  which 
this  station  is  the  center.  If  we  go  four  times  through 
the  forty-acre  tract,  this  square  contains  yt  =  2|  acres. 
All  we  learn  about  this  square  of  two  and  a  half  acres 
we  put  down  on  a  separate  page  of  our  notebook,  so  that 
when  we  have  finished  the  square,  or  this  station  No.  1, 


4 

1 

•13 

•12 

.5 

"4 

•H 

•II 

•6 

•3 

•15 

•10 

•2 

•16 

•9 

•8 

•1 

T 

v°, 

I/ .   V V ^        . V 

20  20  20  20  Roas 

FIG.  61.  Diagram  to  show  how  a 
Forty-Acre  Lot  is  covered  in 
estimating  Timber.  (Nos.  1-16 
are  the  stations) 


168  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

we  need  not  remember  anything  more  about  it.  Then  we 
go  to  station  No.  2,  which  is  twenty  rods  from  No.  1,  and 
so  on,  until  the  "forty"  is  done.  To  have  our  note- 
books orderly  we  should  have  them  lined  and  arranged 
somewhat  like  the  sample  on  the  opposite  page. 

Whether  the  diameters  are  estimated  or  measured,  it  is 
better  to  go  by  even  inches,  as  is  shown  in  the  scheme, 
but  it  is  not  necessary  to  measure  by  one  inch,  unless 
the  number  of  trees  is  very  small. 

When  the  "forty  "  is  finished  we  add  up  and  put  on  the 
same  kind  of  sheet  all  the  totals.  Then  we  can  calculate 
the  amount  of  wood  very  much  closer  than  is  ordinarily 
done.  First  we  find  the  amount  of  saw  timber  in  the  logs 
in  the  way  explained  before.  Then  we  calculate  the  real 
volume  of  the  wood  in  the  following  way : 

Suppose  the  twenty-four-inch  trees  are  generally  about 
ninety  feet  high  (estimated  or  measured)  and  that  they 
cut  three  logs  each,  so  that  they  cut  about  five  hundred 
feet  B.M.,  as  in  our  example.  Then  we  look  up  the  area 
of  cross  section  of  the  tree  in  the  table  (Appendix  II) 
and  find  that  a  tree  twenty-four  inches  in  diameter  has 
an  area  of  3.14  square  feet.  If  the  tree  were  simply  a 
cylinder  of  wood,  we  would  need  only  to  multiply  this 
number  of  3.14  with  the  height  of  the  tree  to  find  the 
volume  in  cubic  feet.  But  the  trunk  of  the  tree  tapers, 
and  tapers  irregularly,  so  that  not  even  the  contents  of  the 
trunk  can  thus  be  calculated.  In  working  up  many  trees 


USE   OF   THE   FOKEST 


169 


ARRANGEMENT   OF   NOTEBOOK   IN   ESTIMATING 
AND   MEASURING   TIMBER 


Forty  No.  5. 


Station  No.  3. 


DIAMETER 

(INCHES) 

OAK 

CHESTNUT 

TULIP 
POPLAR 

MAPLE 

NUMBER 
OF  TREES 

12 

// 

14 

## 

16 

// 

/// 

18 

//// 

20 

// 

/ 

// 

22 

24 

/// 

TOTAL 

15 

7 

2^ 

NUMBER  OF 

16  FT.  LOGS 
CORRESPOND- 
ING TO  THE 
ABOVE  TREES 

12 

// 

14 

/// 

16 

/#/ 

mt/// 

18 

1K4TW  // 

• 

20 

frtt/ 

/// 

///// 

22 

24 

///////// 

NUMBER  OF 
LOGS 

28 

22 

6 

SMALL  TREES 

6-11  IN.  DIAM. 

18 

15 

23 

11 

YOUNG 
GROWTH 

Considerable  young  red  oak  1-6  ft.  high  ;   little  chestnut   and 
maple,  but  no  poplar 

SURFACE 
COVER 


Considerable   shrubbery,   hazel,  etc.  ;  about  one  third   area   is 
covered  with  grass  and  weeds 


SURFACE 


Moderate  slope  to  north  ;  fairly  smooth,  no  bowlders 


SOIL 


Fine,  gray,  sandy,  deep 


DRAINAGE 


Perfect 


NOTES 


Easy  logging.  Stand  too  open  ;  need  of  more  trees  ;  well  suited 
to  hardwoods  and  conifers  ;  justifies  cleaning  and  filling  in  by 
sowing  or  planting 


170  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

it  has  been  found  as  a  matter  of  experience  and  measure- 
ment that  the  volume  of  the  trunk  of  the  tree  is  about 
one  half  as  much  as  the  volume  of  the  cylinder  just  men- 
tioned. Usually  this  ratio  between  the  cylinder  and  the 
real  volume  of  the  tree  varies  from  about  0.45  to  0.60 
according  to  the  kind  of  tree,  and  naturally  is  larger 
if  the  entire  tree,  limbs  and  all,  is  taken  than  if  only  the 
volume  of  the  stem  is  to  be  calculated.  This  figure,  or 
ratio,  is  called  the /actor  of  shape  and  is  very  useful  in  tree 
measurement. 

Since  the  factor  of  shape  is  equal  to  the  volume  of  the 
tree  divided  by  that  of  the  cylinder,  or  since 

,  volume  of  tree 

factor  =  — —      — — — — , 

volume  01  cylinder 

we  can  say : 

factor  x  volume  of  cylinder  =  volume  of  tree ; 
or,       volume  =  area  x  height  x  factor  of  shape. 

In  our  case,  then, 

3.14  x  90  x  .60=  169.5  cubic  feet. 

This  includes  the  logs  as  well  as  limbs,  and  means  that 
if  the  entire  tree  were  cut  into  cord  wood,  it  would  make 
one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  cubic  feet,  solid  wood ;  or, 
since  about  ninety  cubic  feet  solid  make  one  cord  of  wood 
in  the  pile  (air  and  wood),  each  twenty-four-inch  tree 
would  make  1.88  cords.  Allowing  two  cords  of  wood  to 
each  thousand  feet  B.M.  of  logs,  we  deduct  one  cord  for 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST 


171 


the  logs  and  find  that  these  trees  furnish  each  about  0.88 
of  a  cord  of  firewood.  When  trees  are  very  branchy,  as 
in  our  old  hardwood  forests,  the  number  of  logs  is  usually 


FIG.  62.     Calipers  for  measur- 
ing the  Diameter  of  Trees 


FIG.  63.     Measuring  the  Height  of  a  Tree 

small,  and  the  amount  of  firewood  commonly  more  than 
half  of  all  the  timber.  In  pine,  spruce,  etc.,  the  reverse 
is  true  ;  here  the  logs  often  make  over  seventy-five  per 
cent  of  all  the  wood  in  the  tree. 


172  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Since  estimating  is  always  guesswork  and  liable  to 
much  error,  it  is  far  better  to  make  definite  measurements 
wherever  we  can.  This  is  always  possible  in  the  case  of 
the  diameter,  and  usually  of  the  height.  In  doing  this 
two  men  go  ahead  with  calipers  (see  Fig.  62)  to  measure 
the  diameter  and  also  estimate  the  number  of  logs,  and 
one  man  walks  behind  them  and  keeps  tally.  The  meas- 
uring is  done  breast  high,  and  each  tree  is  marked  with  a 
gauge  or  chalk  to  show  that  it  has  been  measured. 

During  the  work  each  man  calls  out,  as,  for  instance, 
"  White  oak,  twenty-four,  two,"  meaning  that  this  tree  of 
white  oak  is  twenty-four  inches  in  diameter  and  will  cut 
two  logs.  The  heights  are  measured  as  shown  in  the 
figure,  with  a  homemade  triangle  or  else  with  a  special 
device,  the  Faustman  "  Heightmeasure." 

In  measuring  or  "  scaling "  a  log,  it  is  customary,  in 
our  country,  not  to  measure  its  real  volume,  but  to  state 
how  many  feet  B.M.  of  lumber  might  be  cut  from  this  log. 
Since  the  saw  wastes  a  great  deal  of  wood,  cutting  it  into 
dust,  and  since  the  slabs  also  are  largely  waste,  only 
fifty  to  seventy  per  cent  of  the  total  volume  of  the  log 
can  be  obtained  as  boards. 

A  stick  on  which  are  marked  the  number  of  feet  B.M. 
for  each  diameter  and  the  ordinary  lengths  is  called  a 
scale  rule.  Of  these  rules  the  Doyle  rule  is  by  far  the 
most  common  and  is  quite  a  fair  rule,  except  for  logs 
smaller  than  sixteen  inches  diameter.  If  a  rule  is  not  at 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST 


173 


hand,  we  can  readily  make  one,  for  in  Doyle's  rule  the 
contents  of  a  log  sixteen  feet  long  are  equal  to  the  square 
of  the  diameter  reduced  by  four.  Thus,  a  log  twenty-four 
inches  in  diameter  has  (24  -  4)2  =  20  x  20,  or  400,  feet  B.M. 
if  it  is  sixteen  feet  long.  If  it  is  only  twelve  feet 
long,  the  contents  are  400  x  f J  =  300  feet  B. 

The  measurement  is  always  made 
at  the  smaller  or  top  end,  and  if  the 
log  is  crooked,  partly  decayed,  or 
excessively  knotty,  an  arbitrary  deduc- 
tion is  made.  Where  valuable  timber 
is  bought  or  sold  these  methods  are 
improved  in  various  ways  to  obtain 
more  exact  results. 

Tan  Bark.  —  In  many  of  the  oak 
forests  of  the  Allegheny  region,  and 
in  the  hemlock  woods  of  Wisconsin 
and  Michigan,  many  men  are  engaged 
in  peeling  tan  bark. 

This  is  done  in  summer,  May  to 
July,  while  the  bark  readily  lets  go  of    FIG.  64.    Scale  Rules 
the  wood.     In  peeling  bark  the  tree  Only  the  lower  end  of  each 
is  felled,  and  then  girdled  every  four 
feet  clear  up  to  the  crown.     Then  these  four-foot  cylinders 
of  bark  are  cut  lengthwise  along  two  or  more  lines,  and 
the  pieces  peeled  off  with  a  special  peeling  iron.     They 
are  then  set  up,  rough  side  out,  against  the  log  to  dry. 


174  FIEST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

When  dry  they  are  carefully  stacked  in  cord  piles,  and 
later  on  hauled  out  when  convenient.  Care  is  taken  to 
do  the  work  during  dry  sunny  days,  since  bark  molds 
very  easily  and  is  thereby  spoiled. 

Being  bulky,  bark  does  not  pay  for  long-distance  ship- 
ping, and  tanners  prefer  to  move  their  tannery  to  the  woods 
and  ship  the  hides,  rather  than  to  move  the  bark  over  great 
distances.  In  times  of  business  depression  farmers  have 
been  driven  to  peel  bark  without  being  able  to  use  the 
logs,  so  that  much  timber  has  been  wasted  in  this  way. 
This  should  be,  and  usually  can  be,  avoided  by  the  use  of 
portable  mills ;  for  even  if  the  lumber  cannot  at  once  be 
used,  oak  and  hemlock  bear  storing  for  a  long  time. 

RESIN  AND  TURPENTINE  INDUSTRY 

In  the  large  forests  of  longleaf  pine  covering  the  level, 
sandy  coast  plain  of  the  South,  the  production  of  turpen- 
tine and  resin,  the  "  naval  stores  "  industry,  is  one  of  the 
principal  occupations.  The  process  is  as  follows  : 

One  or  two  deep  pocketlike  notches  are  cut  into  each 
tree  to  receive  the  crude  resin  as  it  oozes  out  of  the 
wound.  Since  the  resin  hardens  in  a  short  time  and 
stops  up  the  wound,  this  latter  must  be  renewed  about 
once  every  week  all  through  the  "  bleeding  "  season,  from 
spring  to  fall,  as  shown  in  Fig.  65,  a,  where  a  man  is  about 
to  cut  a  thin  strip,  or  "  streak,"  with  his  "  hacker."  Once 


176  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

a  month  the  men  "  dip  "  the  "  crude/'  and  this  is  hauled 
to  a  distillery,  a  "turpentine  still,"  where  the  "crude" 
is  boiled  with  a  little  water.  By  this  means  the  spirits 
of  turpentine,  or  "  spirits,"  go  off  as  a  vapor  and  are 
cooled  in  a  coiled  tube,  the  "  worm,"  which  is  kept  cool 
by  flowing  water.  As  soon  as  the  "  spirits  "  are  distilled 
the  remaining  mass,  the  rosin,  is  run  out  like  molten 
metal  through  a  sieve  into  a  trough,  whence  it  is  ladled 
into  barrels.  This  soon  hardens  on  cooling,  so  that  the 
barrels  need  not  be  very  tight. 

Some  distillers  get  all  their  "  crude "  from  farmers ; 
others  have  special  crews  in  the  woods  to  tap  for  them. 
Ordinarily  a  tree  is  tapped  only  four  years,  but  in  many 
of  the  settled  districts  of  North  Carolina  trees  have  been 
66  bled  "  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

One  man  tends,  "  chips,"  or  "  streaks,"  about  five  thou- 
sand trees.  His  trees  form  a  "  crop,"  and  are  supposed 
to  have  ten  thousand  notches  or  "boxes."  Such  a  crop 
yields  during  the  four  years  of  "bleeding"  about  fifty- 
four  hundred  gallons  of  turpentine  and  six  hundred  arid 
eighty  barrels  (two  hundred  and  forty  pounds  each)  of  rosin. 
The  yield  is  greatest  the  first  year,  the  four  years  com- 
paring in  this  respect  as  7  to  6  to  4  to  1. 

When  the  lumberman  follows  the  turpentine  man,  and 
uses  up  the  timber  as  soon  as  the  tapping  is  finished,  this 
industry  is  entirely  proper;  but  where  the  trees  cannot 
be  utilized  afterwards  it  is  too  wasteful.  The  output  of 


USE   OF   THE   FOKEST  177 

this  industry  in  1892  was  about  three  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  casks  of  turpentine  and  about  two  and  a  half 
million  barrels  of  rosin. 

The  ordinary  tar,  formerly  manufactured  in  large  quan- 
tities, especially  in  North  Carolina,  and  much  used  on  ships, 
was  not  made  in  the  manner  described,  but  in  special  char- 
coal pits,  and  was  thus  a  product  of  dry  distillation,  akin 
to  the  tar  produced  in  retorts. 

SEEDS  AND  MAST 

In  nearly  all  of  our  eastern  hardwood  forests  the  nuts  of 
chestnut,  hickory,  including  the  pecan,  walnut,  and  butter- 
nut, and  to  some  extent  the  beechnuts,  are  gathered  and  form 
one  of  the  common  dainties  of  winter-evening  gatherings. 

Nearly  all  of  our  large  oak  forests  are  used  to  pasture 
thousands  of  hogs,  which  fatten  whenever  the  "  mast,"  or 
crop  of  acorns,  is  good. 

Aside  from  these  simple  and  ancient  uses,  the  seeds  of 
our  trees  are  generally  allowed  to  go  to  waste ;  but  as 
there  arises  a  market  for  many  of  our  tree  seeds,  it  will 
prove  profitable  to  gather  them.  This  is  so  now  in  most 
parts  of  Europe,  where  the  value  of  the  seed  from  a  small 
piece  of  woods  is  often  far  greater  than  that  of  the  wood, 
and  where,  whenever  a  seed  year  occurs,  hundreds  of 
people  make  it  a  business  to  collect  such  seeds  as  pine, 
spruce,  and  balsam. 


178  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

PASTURAGE 

Pasturing  in  the  forests  is  almost  universal  in  all  settled 
portions  of  our  country,  and  even  many  of  the  remote 
districts,  like  those  of  the  Rockies,  Cascades,  and  Sierra 
Nevadas,  furnish  summer  feed  to  several  millions  of  sheep 
and  cattle.  In  the  forest  of  the  longleaf  pine  in  the 
South  the  cattle  feed  on  rough  pine-grass,  which  is 
renewed  and  also  protected  against  a  cover  of  pine  needles 
by  being  burned  over  from  time  to  time. 

Though  the  cattle  and  sheep  do  not  eat  the  pine,  they 
trample  down  seedlings,  and  thus  hinder  the  starting  of 
young  growth.  This,  however,  is  made  up  in  part  by 
the  good  they  do  in  breaking  the  cover  of  dead  leaves, 
etc.,  and  thus  making  it  possible  for  the  seed  of  the  pine 
to  find  the  ground.  On  the  other  hand,  fires  set  for  their 
benefit  do  damage  in  killing  seedlings  and  young  trees, 
and  scorching  the  "  feet "  of  the  old. 

In  our  hardwoods  the  cattle  and  sheep  live  as  much  by 
browsing  off  the  leaves  and  fresh  shoots  of  young  trees 
as  by  feeding  on  grass,  and,  therefore,  pasturing  in  these 
woods  always  hinders  the  starting  of  young  growth  arid 
leads  to  a  crippling  of  many  of  those  saplings  which 
continue  to  live  in  spite  of  injury.  For  this  reason  it 
is  generally  a  bad  plan  to  pasture  cattle  in  the  woods. 
Where,  however,  this  appears  still  advisable  or  necessary 
the  work  in  the  woods  should  be  so  regulated  that  the 


USE   OF   THE   FOREST  179 

cattle  can  be  kept  off  from  the  parts  where  a  new  growth 
is  to  be  started,  until  the  young  trees  are  over  ten  feet  in 
height.  With  cattle  this  is  easily  and  cheaply  done  by  a 
two-strand  fence  of  barb  wire,  which  can  be  used  over 
and  over  again ;  with  sheep  this  does  no  good,  and  they 
should  be  herded. 

In  the  dry  portions  of  our  western  mountain  ranges  the 
sheep  find  a  summer  range  which  is  considered  quite 
indispensable  to  the  sheep  industry  of  many  districts. 
Since  the  forests  are  stocked  with  conifers,  which  the 
sheep  do  not  eat,  it  is  chiefly  their  trampling  which  does 
any  damage.  In  these  mountains  most  of  the  herding  is 
done  on  the  high  ridges  where  timber  does  not  grow  very 
well,  if  at  all,  and  also  in  the  numerous  "  burns,"  where 
repeated  fires  have  killed  and  consumed  everything. 
These  burns  are  without  seed  trees  and  therefore  restock 
very  slowly,  commonly  remaining  open  grazing  grounds 
for  years. 

Where  forest  growth  is  very  difficult  to  start,  and 
where,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  these  mountain  countries, 
it  is  very  necessary  to  avoid  serious  erosion  from  the 
irregular  flow  of  the  streams,  pasturage  should  be  regu- 
lated or  abandoned  altogether. 


180  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

GAME  AND  FISH 

In  the  Adirondack  Mountains  the  game  and  fish,  as 
much  as  the  beauty  of  forest  and  lake,  have  brought  to 
these  mountains  millions  of  dollars,  and  helped  to  create 
a  sentiment  worth  many  millions  more.  Streams  and 
lakes  well  stocked  with  fish,  and  a  few  dozen  of  deer  to 
every  thousand  acres  of  forest,  are  capable  of  producing 
considerable  income  through  the  pleasure  which  they  give 
by  their  beauty  and  the  possible  chase,  without  interfering 
in  the  least  with  the  real  objects  of  the  forest. 

In  hardwood  forests,  like  those  of  the  Alleghenies,  at 
least  twenty-five  deer  should  find  their  living  on  every 
thousand  acres  of  land ;  but  in  all  cases  the  number 
should  be  regulated,  and  old  does  as  well  as  old  bucks 
should  be  removed. 

Pine  and  spruce  forests  naturally  offer  very  much  less 
feed ;  and,  therefore,  if  game  is  to  be  kept,  more  or  less 
hardwood  should  be  mixed  in  with  the  conifers.  Patches 
of  coppice  growth,  especially  of  poplars,  cottonwood,  aspen, 
etc.,  also  willows,  mountain  ash,  maple,  oak,  and  beech, 
furnish  large  quantities  of  fodder  and  are  well  suited  to 
help  the  animals  in  severe  winters,  when  the  poorer  trees 
may  be  thinned  out  merely  to  feed  the  game. 

But,  above  all,  the  animals  must  be  protected  against 
the  dog  and  gun.  Of  these  the  former  is  by  far  the  more 
harmful,  and  in  any  district  where  stray  dogs,  these 


181 


182  FIRST   BOOK   OF  FORESTRY 

protected  wolves  of  our  forest,  are  free  to  chase  the  game 
day  and  night,  as,  for  instance,  in  many  parts  of  the  South 
and  West,  it  is  impossible  for  deer  to  maintain  themselves. 


THE   BUSINESS   OF  THE   FOREST 

When  a  farmer  carries  on  forestry  on  his  thirty-acre 
piece  of  woodland  he  looks  after  it  himself,  plans  and 
conducts  the  cutting,  planting,  and  thinning,  sells  the 
wood,  and  thus  performs  all  parts  of  this  business,  just  as 
he  does  his  farming.  He  may  hire  some  men,  he  may 
even  keep  a  book  to  see  just  how  much  his  piece  of  wood- 
land is  bringing  in,  but  it  is  a  very  simple  kind  of  record. 
In  the  same  way  his  plans  are  perfectly  simple.  He  may 
manage  it  all  as  a  piece  of  selection  woods,  cutting  over 
a  three-acre  piece  each  year,  using  the  same  road  to  haul 
out  his  wood,  or  he  may  treat  it  as  a  coppice ;  but,  in  any 
case,  he  needs  no  map  or  book  to  see  where  the  oldest 
timber  is  located,  and  what  parts  are  in  need  of  thinning. 
Half  an  hour's  walk  will  show  all  this,  and  a  few  hours' 
time  will  suffice  to  mark  out  all  the  trees  he  wishes  to 
take  out  the  coming  winter. 

Suppose,  however,  he  has  two  thousand  acres  of  woods 
in  four  pieces,  thirty  miles  from  his  home ;  then  the  case 
is  quite  different.  It  would  take  a  month's  faithful  walk- 
ing to  examine  this  amount  of  land  as  a  good  forest 
should  be  examined.  Moreover,  he  needs  to  note  down 


THE   BUSINESS    OF   THE   FOREST,  183 

at  every  step  what  he  sees,  or  else  he  would  forget  it 
before  he  could  reach  home.  But  of  what  use  is  it  to  note 
down  what  he  sees  on  a  particular  spot,  unless  he  knows 
where  that  spot  is  and  can  send  a  man  there,  if  he  wants 
to  do  so?  This  means,  then,  that  he  should  survey  it 
first  and  establish  some  marks  in  the  woods.  Then  he 
examines  and  estimates  or  measures  the  timber  and 
describes  his  land.  But  after  he  has  a  map  and  descrip- 
tion, to  have  it  orderly  he  must  keep  it  in  some  kind  of 
book,  arranged  in  some  definite  order.  Here  the  book- 
keeping begins,  for  this  survey  and  this  examination  cost 
some  money,  which  he  must  charge  against  his  forest. 
Then  he  wants  to  manage  this  forest. 

We  will  suppose  he  decides  to  treat  it  as  a  selection 
forest,  and  suppose  also  that  he  can  sell  the  wood  and 
timber,  and  wishes  to  use  his  forest  to  furnish  work  for 
teams  and  outfit,  and  also  for  his  men,  whether  tenants 
or  neighbors.  In  this  case  he  will  wish  to  do  some  log- 
ging, perhaps,  every  winter ;  and  he  will  need,  about  every 
ten  years,  to  return  to  each  part  of  his  woods  to  make 
sure  that  it  is  properly  cleaned  and  thinned.  He  would 
have  to  log  over  about  two  hundred  acres  a  year,  and  this 
would  be  a  considerable  business  in  itself.  To  do  this  he 
would  need  a  foreman,  better  a  forester,  and  a  small  crew 
of  men,  and  considerable  bookkeeping  would  be  necessary 
to  keep  his  accounts  in  proper  order.  But  to  handle  a 
foreman  and  crew  means  administration;  to  survey, 


184  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

subdivide,  map,  and  measure  his  land  and  timber,  to  plan 
where,  what,  and  how  much  to  cut  and  plant,  to  improve 
by  roads,  ditches,  and  otherwise,  —  all  these  mean  to 
regulate  his  forest.  We  have  here,  then,  a  simple  form 
of  forest  administration  and  regulation. 

When  this  forest  grows  to  twenty-five  thousand  acres, 
in  perhaps  thirty  pieces,  the  owner  needs  several  perma- 
nent foresters  who  know  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it. 
Each  of  these  men  takes  a  portion  of  this  land  and  car- 
ries on  the  business,  making  reports  at  regular  times  to 
the  owner,  or  his  office,  so  that  the  owner,  like  a  store- 
keeper, knows  every  day  about  how  his  forest  business 
stands.  Thus,  forest  administration  and  regulation,  up  to 
certain  limits,  grow  in  complexity  as  the  forest  grows 
larger  and  more  diversified,  and  both  are  necessary  for 
order  and  good  business. 


SPECIAL  KINDS   OF  FORESTS 

So  far  we  have  been  considering  forests  in  general,  but 
there  are  a  few  important  cases  which  deserve  special 
attention. 

THE  WOOD  LOT 

The  farmer's  small  forest  of  twenty  to  forty  acres  is 
often  entirely  neglected,  as  a  thing  neither  forest  nor 
field  and  hardly  worth  paying  any  attention  to.  And 


SPECIAL    KINDS    OF   FORESTS 


185 


yet  it  is  in  this  form  that  a  very  large  and  a  very  impor- 
tant part  of  our  forest  wealth  exists,  and  here  is  where 


FIG.  67.     Tapping  the  Sugar  Maple 
(After  W.  F.  Fox) 


the  best    kind  of    forestry   is   frequently  met  with,  and 
where  the  most  careful  attention  and  the  greatest  outlay 


186  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

of  labor  always  pays  and  pays  handsomely.  The  ordi- 
nary wood  lot  in  the  eastern  or  forested  portion  of  our 
country  is  usually  a  remnant  of  the  old  forest;  it  is 
on  forest  ground  and  commonly  on  rather  good  land, 
when  considered  from  the  woodsman's  standpoint,  so  that 
quite  a  variety  of  timber  may  be  grown  here.  Let  us 
consider  what  might  be  done  with  such  a  wood  lot  in 
our  eastern  districts. 

First,  we  will  see  what  kinds  of  trees  the  woods  contain 
and  what  condition  they  are  in.  In  most  cases  we  find  a 
considerable  number  of  old,  long-overripe  trees  of  maple, 
elm,  oak,  especially  red  oak,  and  others.  Some  of  these 
clearly  show  their  bad  condition  by  large  knot  holes, 
numerous  dead  linibs,  and  other  signs  of  degeneration. 
They  are  growing  neither  in  value  nor  in  wood  and  had 
better  be  removed ;  but  there  is  no  need  of  haste,  —  any 
time  during  the  next  ten  to  twenty  years  is  soon  enough; 
for  there  is  no  immediate  danger  of  great  loss. 

Besides  the  old,  overripe  trees  there  are  a  number  of 
younger  trees  with  broad,  spreading  crowns,  also  trees 
like  blue  beech  and  dogwood,  which  are  not  wanted. 
We  see  that  considerable  change  is  needed  here,  merely 
in  respect  to  the  kinds  of  trees  to  be  raised.  In  most 
cases  we  should  wish  to  reduce  the  elm,  bass  wood,  poplar, 
and  others,  and  give  preference  to  oak.  Moreover,  we 
would  rather  raise  white  oak  than  red  or  black  oak, 
because  the  former  is  durable  and,  therefore,  useful  even 


SPECIAL    KINDS    OF   FORESTS  187 

as  a  small  tree,  when  it  can  be  sold  at  good  prices  for 
railway  ties  and  piling.  The  same  is  true  of  chestnut. 
In  addition,  it  would  be  better  in  most  cases  to  introduce 


FIG.  68.     Old-Fashioned  Way  of  boiling  Maple  Sap 
(After  W.  F.  Fox) 

considerable  pine  or  spruce,  since  much  coniferous  lumber 
is  used  everywhere.  To  prevent  the  groves  of  oak  from 
becoming  too  open  and  grassy,  it  would  be  well  to  mix 
in  some  beech  and  maple  wherever  this  trouble  appears. 


188  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

The  trees  may  be  mixed  all  through  the  piece,  or  else  the 
oaks,  the  ashes  and  elms,  hickories  and  walnuts  may  be 
raised  in  small  clumps  or  groves  of  one  half  to  two  acres 
in  size,  surrounded  by  the  mixed  woods. 

A  general  maxim  in  the  choice  of  the  trees  to  be 
raised  would  be  :  "  Raise  only  those  kinds  of  trees  which 
thrive  and  grow  well  in  our  locality,  and  among  these 
select  the  kinds  which  furnish  the  most  valuable  material, 
and  especially  those  the  wood  of  which  is  valuable  at  an 
early  age  or  in  smaller  sizes."  Of  course  it  is  not  neces- 
sary and  would  not  even  be  profitable  to  change  the  entire 
thirty  acres  of  woods  in  one  year ;  but  it  is  well  to  make 
up  our  minds  as  to  what  we  should  do  with  the  woods, 
and  improve  them  from  year  to  year,  restocking  the 
ground  with  the  kinds  we  want  as  we  use  up  the  old 
and  thin  out  the  inferior  trees. 

In  most  woods  we  would  also  find  much  dead  material 
still  on  the  stump  or  on  the  ground,  also  thickets  of 
young  stuff  in  which  good  and  bad  trees  alike  are  trying 
to  hold  the  ground.  These  cases,  as  well  as  the  main- 
tenance of  a  close  border  and  the  restocking  of  all  bare 
places,  should  in  all  such  woods  receive  prompt  attention, 
for  dead  material  in  a  forest  is  always  a  source  of  mis- 
chief. A  lot  of  scrubby  blue  beech  is  apt  to  crowd  out 
the  finest  saplings  of  oak,  and  a  bare  place  in  the  woods 
is  fallow  land,  bringing  no  rental,  but  serving  as  a 
starting  point  of  brambles  and  other  forest  weeds. 


SPECIAL   KINDS   OF   FORESTS  189 

As  to  the  best  way  of  managing  the  woods,  the  farmer 
forester  has  the  widest  choice.  With  him  any  method,  if 
at  all  applicable  to  the  kinds  of  trees  he  wishes  to  raise, 
will  bring  good  results.  Generally  the  common  selection 
method  will  prove  most  satisfactory,  since,  as  we  have 
learned,  it  is  well  suited  to  all  the  different  kinds  of  trees, 
to  all  climates  and  soils,  and  incurs  less  danger  of  injury 
by  wind  and  insects. 

On  an  ordinary  thirty-acre  tract  about  three  acres 
may  be  gone  over  each  year,  cleaned  and  weeded  of  use- 
less stuff,  the  denser  thickets  thinned,  perhaps  a  few  of 
the  oldest  trees  cut  out,  and  all  open  spots  restocked. 
At  first  this  will  best  be  done  by  sowing  and  planting, 
for  if  we  wish  to  increase  the  proportion  of  white  oak 
and  introduce  pine  and  spruce,  the  only  safe- way  is  to 
sow  or  plant  in  the  manner  before  described.  A  small 
basket  of  white-oak  acorns,  chestnuts,  and  beechnuts 
sown  in  the  fall,  and  a  few  hundred  plants  of  white  pine 
raised  from  a  few  ounces  of  seed  in  a  small  flower  bed 
in  the  garden  and  set  out  in  the  spring,  will  soon  pro- 
duce a  complete  change  in  the  complexion  of  this  forest. 
In  many  localities  a  few  acres  of  good  "  sugar  bush  " 
may  prove  desirable,  though  frequently  this  is  better 
attained  by  trees  along  roads  and  fences  and  in  open 
groves  about  the  farm  premises.  The  same  is  true  of 
nut  trees,  of  which  a  goodly  number  of  the  choicer  kinds 
should  be  grown  on  every  farm.  It  is  just  as  easy  in 


190  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

most  places  to  grow  a  good  walnut  or  a  good  hickory  as 
it  is  to  grow  pignut,  elm,  or  ash ;  and  in  warmer  districts 
a  grove  of  fine-grade  chestnuts  or  select  pecans  may  often 
bring  in  considerable  money  by  the  fruit  alone. 

In  suitable  localities  a  part  of  the  forest  may  well  be 
managed  as  coppice,  and  this  same  method  is  a  very  good 
means  of  starting  a  new  forest  on  old,  worn-out  plowland 
and  on  pasture,  for  it  is  very  easy  to  pass  from  a  coppice 
to  a  standard  coppice,  and  from  this  to  regular  selection 
woods. 

The  use  of  the  wood  lot  as  pasture  land  is  ordinarily  a 
mistake ;  for  if  the  forest  is  well  stocked  with  trees,  the 
grasses  have  no  chance,  and  there  is  nothing  for  the  cattle, 
sheep,  etc.,  to  do  but  to  browse  and  gnaw  bark.  In  a 
small  tract  of  hardwood  forest  the  grazing  will  almost 
always  reduce  the  capacity  of  the  woods  to  half  and  less, 
so  that  only  half  as  much  wood  is  produced,  and  it  is  not 
uncommon  to  see  these  over-pastured  wood  lots  change 
into  mere  "  cripples,"  or  stands  of  dwarfed  and  deformed 
trees,  which  rarely  grow  into  anything  better  than  cheap 
firewood.  When  the  wood  lot  must  be  pastured,  the 
directions  concerning  pasturage  mentioned  before  should 
be  followed.  In  using  their  woodland  farmers  accom- 
plish much  by  a  little  organization  and  cooperation.  In 
some  localities,  where  formerly  the  logs  were  rolled  up 
and  burned,  and  the  lumber  used  on  the  farm  was  bought 
at  the  lumber  yard  ten  or  fifteen  miles  away,  the  farmers 


SPECIAL   KINDS   OF   FORESTS  191 

now  use  portable  sawmills,  just  as  they  use  threshing 
machines,  thus  cutting  not  only  the  lumber  and  timber 
for  home  use,  but  sawing  timber  for  railways,  wagon 
makers,  furniture  makers,  and  other  consumers. 

In  cases  where  the  lumber  and  timber  is  not  sold 
beforehand  it  should  be  piled  and  covered  in  the  best 
possible  way,  for  it  is  usually  through  careless  handling 
that  the  lumber  of  small  mills  becomes  less  acceptable 
and  has  to  be  sold  at  lower  prices. 

An  illustration  of  what  may  be  done  by  careful,  systematic 
management  is  shown  in  the  following  particularly  inter- 
esting case  of  timber  exploitation,  in  no  feature  imaginary 
or  theoretical,  but  actually  carried  out  a  few  years  ago. 

Forty-three  acres  of  well-stocked  rough  timber  land  in 
eastern  Pennsylvania  were  bought  for  $5800,  together 
with  forty-eight  acres  of  improved  farm  land,  for  which 
$2500  additional  was  paid.  A  portable  second-hand  mill 
was  purchased  for  $  1000 ;  mill  shed  and  shanties  were 
erected,  and  this  outlay,  together  with  all  the  wages 
(nearly  $4000)  and  cost  of  hauling,  railway  and  canal 
freights  (little  over  $4000),  brought  up  the  total  outlay, 
land  included,  to  $18,855.  As  the  mill  was  at  once  set 
in  operation,  some  income  was  derived  from  the  first,  thus 
obviating  the  necessity  of  considering  the  interest  on  the 
several  expense  accounts. 

The  following  represents  the  cut  from  these  forty-three 
acres  made  in  just  two  years,  with  only  the  partial 


192  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

personal  attention  of  the  owner,  and  without  the  employ- 
ment of  a  special  superintendent : 

AMOUNT  AND  VALUE  OF  ARTICLES  AND  LUMBER  SOLD 

Miscellaneous  :  Sold  for 

111  tons  of  oak  bark $1,224 

801  cords  of  firewood 2,640 

196  telegraph  poles       500 

16,800  hickory  spokes 388 

66,000  feet  slabs  (running  measure),  used  largely  in  mines       .  333 

For  custom  sawing        130 

Sawdust  7 


Total,         $5,222 
Lumber  (board  measure) : 

Hickory  butts  (bought  by  paper  mill  for  cogs),  feet  9,680 
Birch,  sycamore,  and  second-cut  hickory  (sold  to  toy 

concern)       feet  11,822 

"    Ash "  957 

Walnut «  3,414 

Yellow  poplar »  12,941 

Gum .';•./ "  1,386 

Maple    .     .     .    ,.,  >^*0 "  1,042 

Chestnut    ......     . "  34,719 

Oak.     .     .  ".  "v:''.v «    162,552 


Total,         238,513  6,522 

Railroad  ties      .     .     -.     . number      9,345  5,282 

Switch  timber feet,  linear  measure      6,217  821 

Other  materials  654 


Total,  18,501 
Place  and  mill  were  then  sold,  the  former  at  $4623,  the  latter  at 

$1000,  making  a  total  of    . 24,124 

Against  an  expense  of 18,855 

Leaving  a  profit  of $5,269 


SPECIAL   KINDS   OF   FORESTS  193 

Here  was  a  tract  of  forty-three  acres  of  timber  with  a 
yield  of  less  than  sixteen  thousand  feet  B.M.  per  acre,  as 
ordinarily  estimated,  a  stumpage  of  about  five  dollars 
per  thousand  feet,  and  a  profit  of  over  one  hundred  dol- 
lars per  acre.  Though  it  is  not  possible  to  repeat  this 
everywhere,  it  goes  far  to  explain  why  good  hardwood 
timber  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  sells  at 
one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  acre 
when  farm  land  does  not  bring  one  half  as  much,  while 
only  thirty  years  ago  the  case  was  exactly  the  reverse 
and  the  farms  were  rated  by  the  amount  of  cleared  land. 
It  also  shows  how,  at  least  in  a  large  part  of  the  eastern 
United  States,  woods  may  be  exploited  in  a  careful  instead 
of  wasteful  manner,  and  how  many  a  small  holder,  who 
can  give  the  matter  his  personal  attention  and  do  much 
of  the  work  at  odd  times,  may  make  his  wood  lot  a  source 
of  revenue. 

WASTE  LANDS 

On  every  trip  through  the  country,  especially  in  all 
hilly  districts  or  in  walks  about  any  of  our  smaller  towns 
and  villages,  one  notices  pieces  of  land  from  a  few  rods  to 
several,  often  many,  acres  in  extent  which  have  practically 
gone  to  waste.  Some  of  these  pieces  are  rich  spots  along 
our  streams,  perhaps  a  little  wet  or  subject  to  overflow ; 
others  are  dry,  often  stony,  hillsides,  where  the  removal  of 
the  woods,  the  decay  of  the  roots,  and  subsequent  plowing 


194  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

deprived  the  soil  of  a  hold  and  allowed  the  rain  water  to 
carry  it  away,  leaving  the  surface  a  mass  of  gravel  and 
stones.  Generally  these  places  are  used  as  pastures,  but 
their  grazing  value  is  very  slight,  and  where  this  grazing 
value  becomes  less  than  one  dollar  per  acre  each  year  it 
is  in  most  cases  better  to  convert  such  waste  land  into 
woods;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  a  soil  which  is  quite  poor 
for  agriculture  may  still  be  very  good  for  trees.  Most  of 
these  hillsides  or  bluffs  at  one  time  carried  a  good  growth 
of  trees,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  for  such  lands  to  change 
without  help  from  bare  pasture  lands  into  brush  lands 
and,  if  left  alone,  gradually  to  revert  to  regular  forest. 
Usually  this  process  is  too  slow ;  lack  of  seed  trees  and 
repeated  fires  keep  these  wastes  in  their  bad  condition, 
and  it  is  far  better,  therefore,  to  restock  these  places  by 
sowing  or  planting.  In  the  New  England  States  some 
waste  places  have  been  restocked  by  white-pine  seed  in 
spots  five  or  six  feet  apart,  and  the  same  may  be 
accomplished  at  small  cost  and  with  good  success  by 
sowing  acorns,  chestnuts,  and  seed  of  locust,  maple, 
and  elm. 

Where  the  ground  is  rocky  and  poor,  and  the  success  of 
sowing  rather  doubtful,  especially  in  the  case  of  pine  and 
other  conifers,  it  is  much  better  to  plant  young  trees  one 
or  two  years  old.  When  a  mixture  of  oak,  chestnut, 
locust,  elm,  and  maple  is  used  the  woods  may  at  first  be 
treated  as  coppice.  Later  on  it  may  be  changed  to  a 


SPECIAL   KINDS   OF  FORESTS  195 

standard  coppice,  and  from  this  to  an  ordinary  selection 
wood,  which  will,  in  the  end,  prove  the  best  for  such 
lands. 

On  wet  overflow  land  willow  produces  fine  crops  of 
long  sprouts  for  basket  weaving.  Poplar,  ash,  elm,  syca- 
more, and,  in  the  Southern  States,  sweet  gum,  water  oak, 
and  other  valuable  trees  thrive  in  similar  situations. 

What  such  reforestation  can  do  for  a  piece  of  land,  even 
in  our  country,  is  best  illustrated  by  some  of  the  worn- 
out  pastures  in  our  New  England  States,  where  land  which 
produced  no  income  at  all  has  been  converted  into  forests 
cutting  over  thirty  thousand  feet  B.M.  of  shook  boards 
at  the  age  of  sixty  years  and  less ;  or,  in  other  words,  a 
forest  capable  of  producing  yearly  a  net  income  of  three 
dollars  and  more  per  acre. 

FOREST  PLANTATIONS  ON  PRAIRIES 

9S 

As  with  so  many  other  good  things,  the  forest  is  never 
so  keenly  missed  as  in  the  vast  treeless  regions  of  the 
West.  Generally  the  land  is  fertile,  but  lack  of  moisture 
has  helped  the  grasses  to  monopolize  the  land.  In  all  the 
states  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  numerous  forest  plan- 
tations have  been  established.  The  majority  contain  only 
hardwoods,  particularly  maple,  box  elder,  cottonwood,  elm, 
ash,  catalpa,  walnut,  and  locust.  Pine  and  other  conifers 
have  also  been  tried  with  success. 


196 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


The  majority  of  failures  in  these  plantations  appear  to 
be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  plants  dry  out  at  the  roots 
before  they  are  established,  probably  in  most  cases  before 


FIG.  69.     Black  Locust  Plantation,  Meade  County,  Kansas 

Trees  twelve  years  old,  six  to  eight  inches  diameter  and  twenty  feet  high 
(After  Tourney) 

and  during  planting.  Generally  the  plants  are  raised  at 
distant  nurseries  and  thus,  necessarily,  suffer  during  the 
long  journey  to  the  place  where  they  are  to  be  used. 


SPECIAL   KINDS   OF   FORESTS  197 

Nevertheless,  many  thousands  of  acres  of  prairie  in  Iowa, 
Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  other  states  have  been  converted 
into  useful  woods,  supplying  the  much-needed  shelter 
from  wind,  and,  at  the  same  time,  producing  fuel  and  con- 
struction material,  fence  posts,  etc. 

How  successful  some  of  these  plantations  are  is  clearly 
seen  from  Figs.  69  and  70.     In  this  latter  case  the  catalpa 


FIG.  70.     The  Yaggy  Catalpa  Plantation,  in  Reno  County,  Kansas, 
showing  Posts  cut  when  Trees  were  nine  Years  Old 

The  posts  are  four  to  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  many  of  the  trees  made 
two  posts.     (After  Tourney) 

trees  were  raised  in  a  nursery  on  the  farm,  and  set  out, 
when  one  year  old,  in  furrows  six  feet  apart,  at  intervals 
of  three  and  a  half  feet.  When  two  years  old  the  trees 
were  cut  off  and  allowed  to  sprout.  The  following  winter 
the  tall  sprouts  were  thinned,  leaving  only  the  best  sprout 
on  each  stump.  The  land  was  cultivated  for  three  years 


198  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

to  keep  down  the  grass,  but  after  this  the  shade  of  the 
trees  sufficed  for  this  purpose.  When  the  trees  were  eight 
years  old  the  largest  ones  were  cut  out  for  fence  posts, 
most  of  them  making  two  posts  each.  In  two  years' 
thinning,  over  fifteen  thousand  trees  were  taken  from  the 
eighty-acre  tract.  When  the  plantation  was  ten  years 
old  there  had  been  raised  on  one  acre  about  eighteen  hun- 
dred trees,  furnishing  over  thirteen  hundred  good  posts, 
besides  smaller  posts  or  stakes  and  a  lot  of  firewood, 
valued  in  all  at  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  dollars. 

This  plantation  is  located  on  good  bottom  land,  bought 
at  twenty-five  dollars  per  acre,  and  of  course  presents  an 
exceptionally  thrifty  growth.  Nevertheless,  it  clearly 
shows  what  may  be  accomplished  on  the  western  prairies 
and  how  even  forestry  that  requires  the  most  painstaking 
care  may  be  profitable  in  many  parts  of  our  country. 

SAND  DUNES 

Passing  through  Michigan  City,  Ind.,  one  can  see 
from  the  car  window  low  ridges  of  bare  white  sand 
stretching  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  These 
ridges  or  dunes  are  constantly  moving,  and  a  number  of 
houses  have  been  covered  entirely,  while  parts  of  others 
are  seen  sticking  out  of  the  sand.  Similar  dunes  occupy 
long  stretches  of  our  Atlantic  coast  and  the  coasts  of 
France,  the  Netherlands,  and  the  countries  about  the 


200 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


Baltic.  In  some  places  they  are  simply  a  desert  waste,  and 
have  comparatively  little  effect  on  the  adjoining  country ; 
but  in  other  localities,  like  The  Landes  of  France,  bordering 
the  Bay  of  Biscay,  the  sand  dunes  formed  long,  continuous 
ridges  along  the  shore,  and  thus  dammed  up  the  water  in 


FIG.  72.     Sand  Dune  in  Holland,  after  Reclamation 
(After  Gifford) 

the  streams  and  converted  what,  at  one  time,  was  a  forest 
into  a  pestilential,  marshy  waste. 

On  the  whole,  these  dunes  occupy  large  areas ;  those  of 
Europe  alone  have  been  estimated  to  cover  over  twenty 
thousand  square  miles  ;  and  since  the  wind  easily  drifts  the 
sand  farther  and  farther  inland,  it  is  difficult  to  say  how 
much  land  might  eventually  be  laid  waste  by  these  moving 


SPECIAL   KINDS    OF   FOKESTS  201 

dunes.  For  over  a  century  the  people  of  France,  the 
Netherlands,  and  other  countries  have  fought  these  sands, 
and  some  excellent  results  have  been  attained. 

The  methods  employed  by  all  are  similar.  First  of  all 
a  close  board  or  brush  fence  is  erected.  This  is  situated 
about  three  hundred  to  six  hundred  feet  from  high-water 
mark,  and  runs  parallel  to  the  coast  line.  Usually  a 
parallel  fence  is  built  about  forty  feet  from  the  first.  The 
sand,  whether  blown  from  the  ocean  or  from  the  land  side, 
is  caught  by  these  fences,  which  thus  cause  the  formation 
of  a  new  dune.  As  the  sand  gets  deeper  and  deeper  the 
fences  are  raised  higher,  until,  in  the  course  of  several 
years,  this  new  shore  or  littoral  dune  is  about  thirty  feet 
high.  When  once  of  this  height  the  new  dune  keeps  the 
sand  from  traveling  farther  inland,  and  the  sandy  stretches 
in  its  rear,  or  on  the  land  side,  have  a  chance  to  become 
quiet.  Then  the  new  shore  dune  is  covered  with  sand 
grasses,  mostly  the  sea  marram  or  mat  weed,  which  thrive 
on  these  mobile  sands,  and  the  land  behind  it  is  planted 
or  sowed  to  pine,  both  plants  and  seed  being  protected 
by  brush  evenly  covered  over  the  entire  tract. 

The  pine  woods  are  usually  treated  by  the  selection 
method,  so  that  no  large  bare  spots  are  ever  produced. 
The  chief  danger,  fire,  is  guarded  against  by  a  number 
of  fire  lanes  and  by  careful  watching. 

The  shore  dune  requires  continual  close  watching,  and 
must  be  kept  covered  with  sand  grass  to  prevent  renewed 


202  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

attack   on  the  reclaimed  lands,  and  its  care,  therefore, 
forms  an  important  part  of  the  forestry  service. 

Though  very  expensive,  this  kind  of  work  in  The 
Landes  alone  has  converted  more  than  a  million  acres  of 
worthless  marsh  into  valuable  productive  forests,  and 
has  changed  this  large  area  from  an  unsightly,  pestilential 
region  into  a  health  and  pleasure  resort. 


PART  III 

RELATED    TOPICS 

THE  FOREST  AS  A  PROTECTIVE  COVER 

BESIDES  supplying  one  of  the  most  necessary  materials, 
wood,  and  besides  rendering  productive  large  areas  of 
otherwise  useless  land,  the  forest  in  most  places  has  still 
another  function,  namely,  that  of  protection. 

The  forest  protects  the  soil  against  washing  away,  or 
erosion,  and  it  protects  both  the  soil  and  the  air  in  the 
forest  against  the  wind  and  sun,  and  thereby  keeps  them 
cooler  and  moister. 

A  simple  experiment  illustrates  this  influence  very  well : 
Take  a  common  wooden  table  and  prop  up  one  side  so 
that  it  is  about  six  inches  higher  than  the  other  side ;  let 
this  table  top  represent  a  gently  sloping  hillside.  If  now 
we  pour  water  on  this  table  top  with  a  sprinkler,  and 
thereby  imitate  rain,  we  see  that  the  water  at  once  runs 
off  faster  or  slower,  according  as  the  table,  our  hillside, 
slants  more  or  less. 

This  is  exactly  what  happens  on  our  sidehill  or  moun- 
tain wherever  its  rocky  body  is  bare  of  any  soil  or  cover. 

203 


204  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

If  we  cover  the  table  with  a  four-inch  layer  of  garden 
earth,  and  repeat  our  sprinkling,  care  being  taken  not  to 
sprinkle  too  hard,  we  observe  a  very  interesting  and 
important  fact. 

There  is  at  first  hardly  any  water  on  top  of  the  soil  — 
it  soaks  in ;  but  after  a  time  there  arise  little  rivulets  on 
top,  and  by  gathering  they  grow  larger  and  we  have 
exactly  what  we  see  in  our  settled  plowed  districts, — an 
ordinary  surface  run-off.  But,  in  addition,  we  note  after 
a  little  time  that  there  is  also  a  run-off  along  the  face 
of  the  table  just  as  before,  except  that  the  water  runs 
slowly  ;  it  has  to  seep  along.  This  is  our  underground 
drainage,  such  as  occurs  everywhere,  and  it  is  this  under- 
ground water  which  feeds  our  springs,  streams,  and  lakes 
when  there  is  no  rain ;  and  it  is  underground  water  that 
we  reach  in  digging  our  wells.  Thus,  when  the  rain  falls 
on  a  bare  rocky  area  some  of  the  water  evaporates,  most 
of  it  runs  off  as  fast  as  it  falls,  and  when  the  rain  is  over 
the  rocky  surface  is  dry.  On  the  earth  or  soil-covered 
area,  on  the  other  hand,  part  of  the  rain  water  runs  off  at 
the  surface,  but  much  of  it  soaks  into  the  ground  and 
stays  there  until  there  is  enough  to  form  slow  under- 
ground streams.  Thus,  the  soil  acts  as  a  water  storage 
for  plant  and  stream.  If  we  stop  sprinkling,  the  surface 
run-off  soon  stops,  but  the  underground  drain  keeps  on 
moving  for  many  hours.  This  is  what  happens  all  over 
the  land. 


3 

OK5 

* 


206 


206  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

If  now  we  sprinkle  again,  but  very  hard  this  time,  we 
see  that  the  water  washes  out  gullies  arid  carries  away 
the  soil,  just  as  we  all  have  seen  soil  carried  from  plow-^ 
land,  and  just  as  many  thousands  of  acres  of  plowland 
in  Mississippi  and  other  states  have  been  gullied  and 
ruined  by  water.  Let  us  now  cover  part  of  the  layer  of 
earth  on  our  table  by  a  one-inch  cover  of  moist  cotton 
batting.  Repeating  the  sprinkling,  we  find  that  this 
cover  of  cotton  does  two  distinct  things :  it  protects  the 
soil  and  keeps  the  water  from  carrying  it  away ;  in  addi- 
tion, it  keeps  the  soil  moist  for  hours  after  we  cease 
sprinkling.  This  is  exactly  what  the  forest  does :  the 
torrential  rain  finds  a  canopy  of  twigs  and  leaves  to 
break  its  force,  and  when  the  water  reaches  the  ground 
it  finds  a  layer  of  leaves  which  prevents  it  from  carrying 
away  the  soil.  In  addition,  a  network  of  numberless 
roots  holds  this  earth  for  a  considerable  depth,  and  the 
many  dead  roots  of  former  trees  have  softened  the  soil 
and  made  it  more  penetrable ;  thus,  the  water  soaks  in 
instead  of  running  off. 

That  grass  and  other  herbaceous  vegetation  cannot 
well  replace  the  forest  in  this  respect  is  clearly  shown 
by  the  fact  that  the  Missouri  River  and  its  tributaries, 
which  come  from  prairies,  are  muddy  torrents  after  every 
rain,  while  the  streams  of  the  dense  forests  run  clear  and 
are  undisturbed  by  ordinary  rains  even  though  they  have 
a  greater  fall. 


THE  FOKEST  AS  A  PROTECTIVE  COVER    207 

While  it  is  thus  quite  easy  to  see  how  the  forest  pro- 
tects the  soil,  and,  by  so   doing,  regulates  the  flow  of 


FIG.  74.     How  the  Land  erodes  after  the  Woods  are  gone. 

(Common  sight  in  Mississippi) 

(After  McGee) 

water,  the  influence  of  the  forest  on  the  climate  by 
making  it  more  temperate  and  humid  is  not  so  plain, 
and  remains  still  a  much- disputed  question. 


208  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

Formerly  it  was  claimed  that  the  forests  would  increase 
the  rainfall,  making  the  climate  moister  and  more  equable. 
Great  scientists  and  travelers  have  spoken  on  both  sides  of 
the  question ;  and  for  over  fifty  years  attempts  have  been 
made  to  test  the  truth  of  these  things  in  a  scientific  way 
by  carefully  measuring  temperature,  rainfall,  etc.  Most 
of  these  experiments,  however,  have  failed,  and  there  is 
still  much  dispute  as  to  just  how  much  the  forest  can  do. 
At  present  it  is  generally  believed  that  the  forests  do  not 
change  the  amount  of  rainfall  very  materially,  and  that 
.the  arid  oriental  countries  like  Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  and 
Persia  were,  even  during  their  most  glorious  days,  dry  as 
they  now  are.  On  the  other  hand,  the  effects  explained 
above  remain  valid ;  and,  of  course,  the  more  the  condi- 
tions favor  the  destructive  work  of  the  water,  the  more 
apparent  is  this  protective  influence  of  the  forest. 

Thus,  parts  of  the  French  Alps  were  cleared  off  about 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Floods  followed  this  clearing  off  with  such 
regularity  and  force  that  many  villages  were  destroyed 
and  others  abandoned  because  the  floods  covered  the 
fields  often  yards  deep  with  sterile  gravel  and  bowlders. 
Then  France  began  the  great  task  of  reforesting  these 
mountains  ;  and,  though  not  half  completed,  this  task  has 
already  cost  many  millions  of  dollars. 

In  our  own  country  we  are  not  without  like  examples. 
Lack  of  a  forest  cover  in  Mississippi  led  to  a  gullying 


THE   FORESTS    OF   OUR   COUNTRY  209 

which  destroyed  so  much  good  farm  land  every  year  that 
a  good  authority  says  the  damage  amounted  to  more  than 
the  total  income  of  the  state  from  all  its  industries. 

As  to  the  influence  on  the  moisture  of  the  air,  it  is 
well  known  to  every  farmer  that  a  rail  fence,  if  allowed 
to  be  crowded  by  woods,  is  thereby  prevented  from  drying, 
and  rots  twice  as  quickly  as  it  otherwise  would.  Again ,- 
it  is  well  known  in  all  newly  settled  districts  that  a  road 
can  never  be  kept  in  good  condition  unless  the  "  right  of 
way"  is  cleared  of  timber  to  let  in  wind  and  sun. 

Similarly,  in  our  Lake  Region  hundreds  of  miles  of 
"  corduroy "  road  are  dirt  roads  to-day  and  thousands  of 
small  swamps  have  dried  up,  not  through  any  drainage, 
but  merely  because  the  woods  were  cut  away.  That 
these  small  changes  are  accompanied  by  great  changes 
in  the  "run-off"  of  our  larger  streams  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  navigation  has  become  difficult  in  a 
number  of  our  important  rivers,  and  altogether  impossible 
in  others,  which  within  our  own  times  were  navigable. 


THE   FORESTS   OF  OUR  COUNTRY 

If  we  examine  the  accompanying  map  of  our  country, 
where  the  areas  originally  wooded  are  colored  and  the 
open  prairies  uncolored,  we  see  that  the  Mississippi  divides 
the  country  approximately  into  an  eastern  timbered  and 
a  western  prairie  portion.  We  see,  too,  that  the  line  does 


210  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

not  quite  follow  the  great  river,  but  bends  across  to  the 
east,  leaving  part  of  Wisconsin  and  Illinois  as  half  prairie, 
and  then  crosses  it  again,  including  the  greater  part  of 
Missouri,  all  of  Arkansas,  the  eastern  part  of  the  Indian 
Territory,  and  Texas  in  the  timbered  portion.  Following 
this  western  timber  limit,  we  note  a  belt  marked  with 
green  dots,  extending  from  Texas  to  Minnesota,  which 
is  a  sort  of  half  prairie  country  where  patches  of  forest, 
usually  scrub-oak  woods,  alternate  with  prairies.  To  the 
west  of  this  we  see  the  great  prairies  and  plains ;  then 
a  set  of  narrow  red  patches,  representing  the  ragged,  conif- 
erous forests  covering  part  of  the  numerous  high  ranges 
of  the  Kockies;  then  the  bare,  arid  regions  of  the  Great 
Basin ;  and  west  of  this,  a  broad  belt  of  coniferous  forests 
skirting  the  Pacific  from  the  northern  boundary  nearly  to 
the  southern  limit  of  California. 

Our  eastern  forest,  we  note,  consists  of  three  parts :  a 
northern  and  a  southern  belt  of  coniferous  forests,  and 
a  broad  hardwood  forest  between  these  two. 

The  northern  belt  of  conifers  is  composed  largely  of 
white  pine,  Norway  pine,  and  hemlock  in  the  western  and 
central  parts,  and  of  spruce  in  the  eastern.  The  great 
pineries  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan  and  the  spruce  woods 
of  Maine  belong  to  this  belt. 

The  southern  belt  of  conifers  is  composed  almost  entirely 
of  pure  stands  of  the  southern  pines,  the  longleaf ,  loblolly, 
and  shortleaf,  with  cypress  covering  the  swamps. 


212  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

The  broad-leaved  or  hardwood  forests  occupying  the 
greater  portion  of  the  eastern  United  States  may  be  divided 
into  a  southern  and  a  northern  half.  The  former  extends 
from  New  England  to  Missouri,  and  is  characterized  by 
the  fact  that,  almost  everywhere,  the  hardwood  forest  is 
dotted  conspicuously  by  pine ;  the  part  north  and  west  of 
the  Alleghenies  is  practically  without  this  mixture.  On 
the  whole,  this  great  hardwood  forest  may  be  called  an 
oak  forest  with  a  variable  mixture  of  chestnut,  hickory, 
yellow  poplar,  el  in,  ash,  beech,  and  other  broad-leaved 
trees.  At  its  northern  limit  the  oaks  give  way  to  birch, 
and  at  its  southern  to  pine. 

Both  the  northern  and  southern  belts  of  conifers  are  to 
this  day  large,  almost  unbroken  forests,  with  compara- 
tively little  settlement.  It  is  in  the  great  hardwood 
region  of  our  country  that  a  goodly  share  of  the  forest 
has  made  way  for  the  plow  and  that  the  greater  part  of 
our  people  live. 

The  coniferous  forests  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  ranges, 
composed  mostly  of  yellow  pine,  red  fir,  and  spruce,  are 
interrupted  by  numerous  prairies  and  bare  lands,  and  thus 
cover  but  part  of  these  mountains. 

The  forests  of  the  Pacific  coast  region  are  among  the 
most  remarkable  forests  in  the  world.  Those  of  Cali- 
fornia are  largely  made  up  of  gigantic  redwoods,  red  fir, 
and  pine,  while  those  of  Oregon  and  Washington  are 
chiefly  forests  of  red  fir,  hemlock,  cedar,  and  balsam. 


THE   FORESTS    OF    OUR   COUNTRY  213 

Both  redwood  and  red  fir  grow  to  be  over  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  high ;  and  while  an  acre  of  good  spruce  land 
in  Maine  yields  ten  thousand  feet  B.M.,  it  is  not  a  rare 
thing  to  cut  over  two  hundred  thousand  feet  B.M.  from  an 
acre  of  redwood  or  red  fir. 

If  we  ask  how  much  forest  we  have  left,  the  answer 
is  quite  encouraging.  In  the  New  England  States,  the 
Lake  States,  and  the  entire  South,  not  over  thirty  per  cent 
of  all  the  land  is  in  use  for  field  and  meadow,  leaving 
nearly  seventy  per  cent  for  forest  and  waste,  of  which  the 
greater  part  is  still  fairly  wooded. 

The  forest  lands  of  our  eastern  United  States  practically 
all  belong  to  private  owners,  individuals,  or  companies, 
though  some  tracts  are  owned  by  the  several  states  as 
school  lands,  etc.  In  the  Western  States  the  Federal 
Government  still  holds  a  considerable  portion,  especially 
of  the  more  remote  forests  covering  the  several  mountain 
chains. 

Of  the  private  owners,  railway  and  lumber  companies 
have  most  of  the  larger  tracts,  especially  in  the  pineries, 
both  north  and  south ;  while  the  greater  part  of  the  hard- 
wood forests  are  in  the  hands  of  actual  settlers  or  farmers. 

Of  late  years  the  Federal  Government  has  set  aside  a 
number  of  tracts  of  mountain  forests  in  our  Western  States 
as  forest  reserves  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  these 
areas  against  erosion  and  consequent  disturbance  of 
water  flow.  There  are  now  over  forty  of  these  reserves, 


214  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

including  over  forty-six  million  acres  of  land,  an  area 
nearly  as  large  as  North  and  South  Carolina  together. 
Largely  for  the  same  purpose  the  state  of  New  York 
has  established  the  Adirondack  Park,  of  which  it  now 
owns  about  one  million  three  hundred  thousand  acres; 
and  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  also  is  beginning  to  buy 
some  of  its  denuded  and  burned-over  mountain  districts 
for  similar  use. 

SOME   HISTORY 

Even  the  ancients,  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  had  some 
notion  of  the  value  of  their  forests,  and  put  forth  many 
efforts  to  prevent  their  useless  destruction.  These  efforts 
were  of  little  avail,  and  the  Mediterranean  lands  to-day 
are  sorely  in  need  of  more  wood,  and  their  mountains  of 
a  better  cover. 

In  the  colder  climates  of  central  Europe  the  value  of 
forests  was  fully  recognized  as  early  as  the  year  1300. 
Though  at  that  time  the  increasing  population  required 
larger  and  larger  fields  to  provide  grain  and  fodder,  yet 
the  clearing  away  of  forest  was  regulated,  and  in  many 
localities  entirely  forbidden.  Many  of  the  towns  began 
to  buy  forest  land  to  guard  against  a  wood  famine.  The 
fundamental  principles  of  forestry,  that  the  land  must  be 
kept  stocked  with  trees  and  that  we  must  not  cut  more 
than  the  growth  if  the  forest  is  to  be  kept  up,  were  also 
clearly  recognized. 


SOME   HISTORY  215 

Thus,  in  the  Sihlwald,  a  tract  of  forest  which  has  been 
in  possession  of  the  city  of  Zurich  for  about  a  thousand 
years,  the  amount  of  wood  to  be  cut  each  year  and  the 
proper  way  of  cutting  it  were  determined  by  competent 
men  more  than  six  hundred  years  ago.  And  so  well  was 
this  done,  and  so  carefully  was  their  plan  followed  out, 
that  this  forest  all  this  time  has  furnished  every  year  the 
fixed  amount  of  timber,  and  is  to-day  in  better  condition 
(and,  therefore,  better  able  to  supply  wood)  than  at  any 
time  before. 

Numerous  laws  and  orders,  issued  from  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury forward  by  communities,  towns,  and  governments, 
regulated  every  feature  of  forest  management  and  use. 
The  cutting,  shipping,  and  selling  of  timber,  the  burning 
of  charcoal,  the  peeling  of  tan  bark,  the  gathering  of  rosin, 
the  pasturing  of  cattle  and  hogs,  and  even  the  keeping  of 
bees  and  gathering  of  wild  honey,  which  in  those  days  was 
a  very  important  business  in  many  districts,  were  all  care- 
fully prescribed,  to  avoid  dispute,  and  still  more  to  prevent 
"  the  killing  of  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  egg." 

As  with  laws  in  all  times  and  countries,  many  were 
unjust  and  oppressive;  and  when  the  French  Revolution 
freed  the  people  of  Europe  from  the  fetters  of  medieval 
ignorance,  sophistry,  and  brutality,  there  was  a  reaction 
against  the  forest  laws,  the  real  worth  of  which  was 
always  least  understood  by  the  very  people  most  benefited 
by  them. 


216  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FOKESTKY 

In  France  this  reaction  did  serious  and  permanent 
damage;  the  forests  everywhere  were  slashed  and  cleared, 
and  the  great  expense  of  restocking  the  southern  Alps, 
and  the  enormous  sums  paid  every  year  to  Sweden  and 
Russia  for  lumber  which  the  short-lived  coppice  woods  of 
France  are  unable  to  furnish,  are  the  fines  paid  for  folly. 

The  people  of  the  Teutonic  lands  were  not  so  readily 
moved,  and  their  conservative  attitude  with  regard  to  the 
forest  has  been  fully  rewarded.  In  densely  populated 
Germany  the  forests  cover  twenty-six  per  cent  of  all  land  ; 
about  one  third  of  these  forests  belongs  to  the  govern- 
ments, about  one  half  to  private  owners,  and  the  rest  to 
cities  and  villages.  In  Prussia  and  Saxony  the  private 
people  can  do  with  their  forest  whatever  they  choose,  cut 
and  clear  as  they  please;  but  in  most  of  the  states  the 
government  looks  upon  a  forest  as  an  inheritance  which 
the  owner  may  use,  but  which  he  may  not  mismanage,  and 
may  never  destroy  without  giving  satisfactory  reasons. 

Most  of  the  forests  of  Germany  are  of  pine  and  spruce. 
Nearly  all  of  the  government  forests  are  "  timber  forests," 
and  are  managed  on  a  rotation  of  about  eighty  to  a  hundred 
years,  so  that  all  timber  is  cut  long  before  it  is  overripe. 

The  majority  of  these  forests  are  in  small  bodies,  in 
the  midst  of  settlements,  and  have,  therefore,  good  per- 
manent roads,  a  local  market,  and  ample  protection.  The 
sawmill  here  is  not  a  temporary  affair,  some  mills  having 
been  in  operation  for  several  centuries. 


THE   WOOD  217 

THE  WOOD 

Having  learned    something  about  forests,  let   us   now 
examine  a  little  more  closely  their  main  product,  the  wood. 


SOME  STRUCTURAL  FEATURES 

Sap  and  Heart.  — We  have  observed  on  some  of  the 
stumps  and  ends  of  logs  that  different  kinds  differ  in 
appearance.  On  the  oak  we  saw  the  rough  bark  outside, 
then  a  layer  of  lighter  colored  wood,  the  sapwood  ;  and 
within  this  the  darker  heartwood,  containing,  somewhere 
near  the  center,  the  tiny  brownish  pith.  This  same 
arrangement  of  sapwood  and  heartwood  we  find  in  the 
majority  of  our  useful  timber  trees.  In  some,  like  hick- 
ory and  elm,  the  sapwood  is  wide ;  in  others,  like  the 
locust  and  catalpa,  it  is  narrow ;  and  in  some  trees,  like 
spruce,  balsam,  hemlock,  and  maple,  it  has  no  distinct 
color  at  all.  The  sapwood  and  heartwood  differ  not  only 
in  color,  but  also  in  durability ;  the  sapwood  part  of  our 
oak  post  decays  in  a  very  short  time,  while  the  heartwood 
part  lasts  for  years.  This  difference  is  very  important, 
and  particularly  in  those  kinds  of  woods  where  the  heart 
is  durable. 

Annual  Rings. — We  have  also  noticed  that  the  wood 
at  the  end  of  the  log  appears  to  be  made  up  of  rings ; 
and  we  learned  that  these  are  called  annual  or  yearly 


218  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

rings,  because  one  is  formed  each.  year.  These  rings  are 
valuable  age  marks,  since  they  tell  us  a  good  deal  about 
the  history  of  the  tree. 

Let  us  now  take  pieces  of  oak,  maple,  and  yellow  pop- 
lar, and  of  pine  and  hemlock,  and  cut  the  ends  with  a 
sharp  pocket  knife,  moistening  them  first  and  making  the 
cut  a  little  slanting.  We  observe  that  the  rings  on  the 
oak  are  easily  counted  and  are  distinguishable  by  a  line 
of  little  holes  or  pores;  those  of  the  maple  and  yellow 
poplar  are  distinguished  by  a  fine  line,  but  not  a  line  of 
pores;  and  those  of  the  pine  are  divided  by  a  line  of 
darker  wood,  which  sometimes  forms  a  broad  brown  band, 
especially  in  yellow  or  hard  pine. 

Spring  Wood  and  Summer  Wood.  —  The  inner  portion  of 
the  ring,  usually  on  the  concave  of  the  arc,  is  naturally 
formed  earlier,  and  the  outer  part  later  in  the  season ;  we 
call  them,  therefore,  the  spring  wood  and  the  summer 
wood  of  the  ring.  In  the  yellow  pine  these  two  are 
sharply  defined;  the  spring  wood  is  of  a  light  yellowish 
color,  and  the  summer  wood  of  a  dark  orange  brown.  In 
maple  and  many  other  woods  they  are  not  sharply  defined, 
but  it  is  convenient,  just  the  same,  to  use  the  terms  in 
talking  of  these  woods. 

Looking  at  Figs.  56  and  57,  we  notice  that  the  patterns 
of  rift  and  bastard  or  tangent  boards  are  principally  due 
to  the  difference  between  spring  and  summer  wood.  The 
dark  bands  in  yellow  pine  are  summer  wood ;  the  scratched, 


THE   WOOD  219 

usually  darkest,  but  in  the  picture  lightest  appearing  por- 
tion, in  ash,  oak,  etc.,  is  spring  wood. 

Pores. — We  have  already  noticed  the  conspicuous 
pores  in  the  spring  wood  of  oak.  Besides  the  larger  pores, 
there  are  many  smaller  ones  in  the  same  wood.  Most  of 


FIG.  76.     Cross  Section  of  Oak  (upper),  Ring-Porous  Wood  ;  Hard 
Pine  (lower),  Non-Porous  Wood 

these  are  in  the  summer  wood  of  the  rings,  so  that  we 
have  in  the  oak  large  pores  in  the  spring  wood  and  small 
pores  in  the  summer  wood,  all  of  which  serve  as  water 
ducts  or  vessels  when  first  formed. 

In  maple  and  yellow  poplar  we  can  also  see  pores,  but 
they  are  extremely  small  and  usually  require  a  magnifying 


220 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


glass  to  see  them.    These  pores  are  nearly  all  of  one  size,  and 

they  are  evenly  scattered  through  spring  and  summer  wood. 

In  pine  and  hemlock  we  do  not  find  these  pores,  though 

in   pine   we   do  find  little  white  specks  which  resemble 

G 


Beech I Sycamore ! Birch . 

FIG.  77.     Diffuse  Porous  Woods 


s.w. 


x -J3 * C 


ar-* 


FIG.  78.     Non -Porous  Woods 

A,  fir;   B,  hard  pine;    C,  soft  pine;   ar.,  annual  ring;   o.e.,  outer  edge  of  ring;   i.e., 
inner  edge  of  ring ;  s.w.}  summer  wood ;  sp.w.,  spring  wood ;  r.d.,  resin  ducts 

pores  ;    they  are  resin  ducts,  however,  and  are  not  like 
the  pores  we  see  in  other  woods. 

The  pores,  especially  the  large  ones,  are  easily  seen  on 
the  sides  of  boards,  and  they  have  much  to  do  with  the 


THE   WOOD 


221 


pattern  or  picture  presented  by  the  wood.  This  is  best 
seen  in  woods  like  oak,  ash,  and  chestnut,  where  the  pores 
of  the  spring  wood  are  so  large  that  they  need  a  " filler" 


FIG.  79.     Wood  of  Spruce 


1,  natural  size ;  2,  small  part  of  one  ring  magnified  100  times.  The  vertical 
tubes  are  wood  fibers,  in  this  case  all  "tracheids."  HI,  medullary  or  pith 
ray;  n,  transverse  tracheids  of  pith  ray;  a,  b,  and  c,  bordered  pits  of  the 
tracheids,  more  enlarged 

in  finishing  or  polishing.  The  pores  are  the  most  impor- 
tant marks  by  which  we  can  distinguish  woods,  and  we 
divide  all  of  our  woods  into  three  groups : 


222 


FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


FIG.  81 


FIG.  80 

FIG.  80.  Spiral  Grain. 
(Season  checks,  after 
removal  of  bark,  indi- 
cate the  direction  of  the 
fibers  or  grain) 

FIG.  81.  Shortleaf  Pine. 
(Cross  section  of  parts 
of  two  rings) 

sp.iv.,  spring  wood  with  thin 
walls;  su.w.,  summer  wood 
with  thick  walls.  The  cells 
run  in  rows  which  extend 
through  several  rings.  (Mag- 
nified about  70  times) 


The  ring-porous 
woods,  like  oak,  ash, 
chestnut,  locust, 
elm,  hickory,  etc., 
where  the  ring  is 
defined  by  a  line 
of  large  pores  in 
the  spring  wood. 

The  diffuse- 
porous  woods,  like 
maple,  yellow  pop- 
lar, and  cherry, 
where  the  pores  are 
usually  very  small 
and  evenly  scat- 
tered through  the 
annual  ring. 

The  non-porous 
woods,  like  pine, 
spruce,  hemlock, 
and  all  our  conif- 
erous woods. 

Pith  Rays. — 
Looking  at  a  cross 
section  of  a  log  or 
piece  of  oak,  we 
observe  broad  lines 


THE  WOOD 


223 


running  from  the  bark  toward  the  center,  or  pith.  They 
are  the  pith  rays.  If  we  examine  the  side  of  the  board, 
they  look  like  broad  bands  if  the  board  is  quarter-sawed 
or  rift,  and  as  short  brown  lines  if  bastard  or  tangent. 


^- 


bark 


FIG.  82.     Alternating  Spiral  Grain  in  Cypress.      (Side  and  end 
view  of  same  piece) 

When  the  bark  was  at  o  the  grain  at  this  point  was  straight.  From  that  time 
each  year  it  grew  more  oblique  in  one  direction,  reaching  a  climax  at  a,  and 
then  turned  back  in  the  opposite  direction.  These  alternations  were  repeated 
periodically,  the  bark  sharing  in  these  changes 


224 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


In  the  oak,  part  of  the  pith  rays  are  very  large,  the 
rest  too  small  to  be  seen  without  a  magnifying  glass  ;  in 
chestnut  they  are  all  small ;  in  beech  some  are  large,  some 
small,  as  in  oak ;  in  maple  and  cherry  most  of  them  are 
small,  but  easily  seen ;  in  birch  they  are  all  too  small  to 
be  seen  without  a  magnifying  glass.  Thus,  the  pith  rays, 
like  "the  pores,  are  valuable  marks  by  which  to  distinguish 
the  different  woods,  and  they  help  to  make  up  the  pattern, 
as  is  clearly  seen  on  almost  every  kind  of  hardwood  board. 

The  Grain. — The 
wood  of  our  trees  is 
made  up  of  cells,  all 
of  which  are  little 
tubes,  which  have 
walls  of  definite 
thickness  and  ap- 


FIG.  83.     A  "  Bird's-eye  "  Board 


pearance.  Each  such  cell  is  the  abandoned  dwelling  of  a 
living  being,  the  cell  proper,  which  fed  and  digested, 
secreted  and  worked,  built  up  the  little  wooden  case  which 
we  now  call  cell  or  fiber,  and  then  died  and  disappeared. 
Most  cells  die  during  their  first  year,  so  that  the  wood  is 
nearly  all  made  up  of  little  lifeless  cases  or  tubes. 

Some  of  these  tubes  are  short,  others  long,  some  have 
thick  walls,  some  thin,  and  most  of  them  have  their  walls 
more  or  less  sculptured.  The  long  tubes,  which  make 
the  bulk  of  the  wood,  we  commonly  call  fibers,  though 
there  are  several  distinct  kinds  of  these. 


THE  WOOD 


225 


Some  cells  in  wood  are  large  enough  to  be  seen  with 
the  unaided  eye,  but  most  of  them  are  very  small  and 


FIG.  84.     Wavy  Grain  in  Beech 
(After  Nordlinger) 

can  be  seen  only  if  much  magnified. 
If  the  fibers  run  straight  up  and 
down  in  the  log,  so  that  it  splits 
straight,  we  call  it  straight  grain; 
if  they  run  spirally  around  as  well 
as  up,  we  call  it  spiral  or  twisted 
grain.  Most  logs  have  more  or 
less  twisted  grain.  Sometimes  the 
fibers  twist  one  way  in  a  number 
of  rings  and  then  in  the  opposite 
way  in  the  rings  farther  out  (see 
Fig.  82),  and  thus  make  splitting 


FIG.  85.     Section  of  Knot 

P,  pith  of  both  stem  and  limb ; 
1-7,  seven  yearly  layers  of 
wood ;  a,  6,  knot  or  basal  part 
of  a  limb  which  lived  four 
years,  then  died  and  broke  off 
near  the  stem,  leaving  the 
part  to  the  left  of  a,  6  a 
"  sound  "  knot,  the  part  to 
the  right  a  "  dead "  knot, 
which  would  soon  be  entirely 
covered  by  the  growing  stem 


226  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

almost  impossible.  In  maple,  cypress,  ash,  yellow  poplar, 
and  many  other  woods,  the  surface  of  the  log  often  is  not 
smooth,  but  has  many  little  projections  (cypress)  or  depres- 
sions (maple,  etc  ),  which  continue  from  year  to  year,  i.e., 
they  do  not  fill  up,  and  one  layer  of  wood  after  another  has 
the  dent  at  the  same  point.  Similarly,  the  fibers  often  run 
wavy,  as  shown  in  the  figure.  Now  if  such  wood  is  cut  by 
the  saw  in  a  straight  line,  the  darker  summer  wood  in 
cypress,  or  the  fibers  cut  almost  transversely  in  maple  and 
other  similar  woods,  appear  at  this  point  as  a  circle  of  dark 
on  a  field  of  lighter  colored  wood,  and  we  have  the  bird's- 
eye  structure.  "  Curly  "  maple  is  wood  in  which  the  fibers 
run  in  wavy  lines,  so  that  part  of  the  fibers  are  cut  across, 
others  cut  lengthwise,  thus  giving  bands  of  darker  and 
lighter  shades  owing  -  to  the  darker  color  of  the  cross 
section. 

Knots.  —  The  position  of  the  grain  and  the  appearance 
of  knots  are  explained  by  Fig.  85. 

Knots,  like  cross  grain,  are  normal  defects,  and  occur 
in  all  kinds  of  trees  and  nearly  all  kinds  and  grades  of 
lumber.  A  dead  knot,  of  course,  is  always  much  more 
serious,  since  it  may  drop  out  at  any  time  and  leave  a 
hole  in  the  structure. 


THE  WOOD  227 

SOME  PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES 

Weight.  —  Most  of  our  wood  is  lighter  than  water,  and 
therefore  it  floats.  But  if  we  leave  a  piece  of  wood  in 
water  a  long  time  it  sinks ;  and  thus  we  see  that  the  solid 
or  wood  substance  of  which  the  cell  walls  are  made  is 
heavier  than  water.  If,  therefore,  the  walls  of  all  cells 
are  very  thick,  the  wood,  like  many  of  our  tropical  woods, 
may  never  float.  Most  of  our  useful  timbers  float  when 
dry,  and  the  majority  weigh  about  four  to  seven  tenths  as 
much  as  water,  or  about  twenty-five  to  forty-three  pounds 
per  cubic  foot,  and  hence  about  two  to  three  and  a  half 
pounds  per  foot,  board  measure. 

Moisture. — When  first  formed  the  cell  is  filled  with 
living  substance  resembling  the  white  of  an  egg,  so  that 
the  freshly  formed  wood  is  full  of  water.  In  an  ordinary 
log  of  pine,  more  than  half  the  cells  are  empty,  but  their 
walls  are  still  moist. 

Most  of  the  water  in  such  a  log  is  in  the  sapwood,  but 
there  is  much  difference  in  different  kinds  of  trees.  Com- 
monly it  is  supposed  that  the  water  in  the  wood,  usually 
called  "  sap,"  goes  out  of  the  log  in  the  fall  and  returns  in 
the  spring.  The  reason  for  the  belief  is  the  fact  that 
many  trees  bleed  in  the  spring  but  not  in  winter.  This 
belief  is  erroneous,  for  by  actual  trial  we  find  that  the 
wood  contains  about  as  much  water  in  winter  as  in 
summer. 


228  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

If  wood  is  sawed  or  split,  so  that  it  is  exposed  to  air,  this 
water  evaporates.  At  ordinary  temperature,  as  in  a  wood 
shed,  it  will  dry  so  far  that  a  hundred  pounds  of  wood  will 
contain  only  about  ten  pounds  of  water.  If  we  put  this  lumber 
in  a  hot  room  or  "dry  kiln,"  it  dries  out  still  more.  When  it 
comes  out  of  the  "  dry  kiln  "  it  absorbs  water  again,  and  after 
a  few  days  may  have  as  much  as  six  pounds  per  hundred. 

Shrinkage.  —  While  drying,  the  wood  shrinks,  i.e.,  it 
grows  smaller.  It  shrinks  about  ten  times  as  much  side- 
wise  as  endwise,  and  shrinks  less  radially,  i.e.,  in  the 
direction  from  the  pith  to  bark,  than  tangentially,  so  that 
a  "rift"  or  "quartered"  board  shrinks  only  about  one 
half  to  two  thirds  as  much  as  a  tangent  board. 

When  a  board  lies  on  the  wet  ground  in  the  sun  it  dries 
and  shrinks  on  one  side  and  less  or  not  at  all  on  the  other, 
and  therefore  curls  or  warps. 

If  a  peeled  log  or  a  thick  board  dries  rapidly  the  outer 
part  shrinks  before  the  inner,  and  thus  the  "jacket"  is 
too  small ;  it  bursts,  and  the  wood  is  said  to  "  check  "  or 
crack.  After  the  inner  part  dries  these  checks  close  up; 
but  in  larger  pieces  some  stay  open  and  grow  larger  for  a 
long  time.  This  kind  of  checks  is  permanent  and  is  due 
to  the  greater  shrinkage  in  the  tangential  direction. 

Coniferous  wood  shrinks  less,  warps  and  checks  less  than 
hard  wood,  and  generally  heavy  woods  shrink  more  than 
light  ones.  To  avoid  the  mischief  of  shrinking  we  use 
flooring  in  narrow  strips,  so  that  the  change  is  distributed 


THE   WOOD 


229 


among  many  pieces,  and  the  opening  among  many 
joints.  We  also  use  panels  in  doors,  and  veneer  in  furni- 
ture, and  for  the  same  reason  bore 
out  columns,  and  build  up  columns 
and  posts  of  several  pieces. 

Strength. — Wood  is  very  strong. 
To  crush  a  cube  of  dry  wood  one 
inch  each  way,  with  the  fibers  on 
end,  requires  about  six  to  ten 
thousand  pounds  pressure.  It 
requires  only  about  one  third  to 
one  half  as  much  if  the  piece  is 
soaked,  or  if  it  is  green ;  for  sea- 
soned timber  is  always  stronger 
than  green  timber  of  the  same 
kind. 

To  pull  it  apart  lengthwise, 
wood  requires  about  twice  as  much 
power  as  to  crush  it  endwise ;  but 
to  pull  it  apart  sidewise,  as  when 
we  pull  out  a  mortise,  requires 
only  about  one  tenth  as  much 
force  as  to  crush  it  endwise. 

Most    conifers    break    without 
much  bending ;  but  elm,  hickory,  etc.,  are  strong  and  yet 
bend  far  before  they  break.     We  call  them  tough  ivoods. 

Heavy  woods  are  generally  stronger  than  lighter  woods. 


Fm.  86.     Effects  of 
Shrinkage 


230  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

SOME  CHEMICAL  PROPERTIES 

When  sufficiently  heated  wood  burns  or  oxidizes ;  and 
this,  while  it  is  not  a  desirable  quality  in  a  building  mate- 
rial, is  otherwise  one  of  its  greatest  virtues. 

If  heated  in  a  close  vessel,  various  substances  are  made 
in  the  form  of  gases ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  this  is  taken 
advantage  of  by  the  "  acid  man." 

By  means  of  chemicals  wood  is  easily  changed  into 
sugar ;  and  if  ever  this  can  be  done  cheaply  enough,  wood 
may  become  an  important  source  of  food. 

Durability  and  Decay.  — All  kinds  of  wood  are  subject 
to  destruction  by  decay-producing  fungi.  One  of  the 
countless  millions  of  spores  of  some  fungus  drops  on  a 
timber,  and  is  carried  by  a  raindrop  into  the  interior  of 
a  pore.  If  conditions  are  favorable,  it  germinates,  grows 
into  a  thread  of  "  mycelium  ";  and  this  thread,  which  is  a 
series  of  living  cells,  attaches  itself  closely  to  the  wall  of 
the  wood  cell,  secretes  a  juice  which  is  capable  of  dissolv- 
ing wood,  and  which  changes  at  least  a  part  of  it  into 
sugaiiike  substances  which  are  taken  into  the  cells  of  the 
mycelium  as  food.  Now  decay  has  begun,  and  in  a  short 
time,  if  beech  or  maple  is  the  timber,  it  is  penetrated  in 
all  directions.  At  first  the  wood  is  merely  discolored,  and 
looks  "  dead "  ;  later  on  it  becomes  brittle,  and  finally 
it  becomes  a  powdery  mass,  and  in  keeping  with  these 
changes  loses  its  resistance. 


THE   WOOD 


231 


If  kept  dry  or  if  kept  under  water,  wood  does  not 
decay.  Charring  the  wood  gives  it  a  wrapper  of  charcoal, 
which  the  fungus  cannot  pene- 
trate ;  painting  and  whitewashing 
do  the  same.  But  if  painted  before 
dry,  the  paint  does  harm  by  pre- 
venting the  timber  from  drying. 

Salts  of  zinc,  copper,  and  mer- 
cury, and  heavy  oils  are  used  to 


FIG.  87 

FIG.  87.     "Shelf"  Fungus  on  the 
Stem  of  a  Pine 

a,  sound  wood;  6,  resinous  "light" 
wood ;  c,  partly  decayed  wood  or 
punk ;  d,  layer  of  living  spore  tubes ; 
e,  old  filled-up  spore  tubes ;  /,  fluted 
upper  surface  of  the  fruiting  body 
of  the  fungus,  which  gets  its  food 
through  a  great  number  of  fine 
threads  (the  mycelium),  its  vegeta- 
tive tissue  penetrating  the  wood  and 
causing  its  decay.  (After  Hartig) 


FIG.  88.      Fungus  Threads  in  Pine 
Wood 

a,  cell  wall  of  the  wood  fibers;  6, 
bordered  pits  of  these  fibers ;  c, 
thread  of  mycelium  of  the  fungus; 
d,  holes  in  the  cell  walls  made  by  the 
fungus  threads,  which  gradually  dis- 
solve the  walls  as  shown  at  e,  and 
thus  break  down  the  wood  structure. 
(After  Hartig) 


232  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

kill  the  fungi.  Usually  the  wood  is  boiled  in  the  solution, 
or  else  this  is  injected  into  the  wood.  Railway  ties  are  thus 
made  to  last  much  longer  than  they  otherwise  would. 

The  sapwood  of  all  kinds  of  trees  is  very  perishable ; 
but  the  heartwood  is  usually  more  or  less  resistant.  No 
wood  is  entirely  exempt  from  destruction  by  decay. 

All  cedars,  cypress,  redwood,  etc.,  also  locust,  walnut, 
white  oak,  chestnut,  mulberry,  and  catalpa,  make  a  durable 
timber;  maple,  beech,  birch,  poplar,  ash,  red  oak,  hick- 
ory, black  gum,  spruce,  balsam,  and  hemlock  are  perish- 
able; while  white  pine,  yellow  or  hard  pine,  elm,  tulip, 
and  red  gum  seem  to  have  an  intermediate  position. 

In  dry  countries,  like  our  arid  West,  even  perishable 
woods  last  a  long  time ;  while  in  moist  and  hot  districts 
even  durable  timber  decays  fast.  Warmth  and  moisture 
help,  dryness  and  cold  hinder,  and  full  seasoning  and 
complete  immersion  prevent  decay. 


WOOD    AS    COMPARED    WITH    IRON 

Much  is  often  learned  by  comparing  a  substance  with 
its  natural  or  most  important  competitor.  Examining 
wood  and  iron  in  this  way,  we  find : 

1.  Wood  is  a  natural  product;  iron  the  product  of  a 
costly,  complicated  manufacture.  Wood  may  be  grown 
wherever  man  wishes  to  use  it ;  the  manufacture  of  iron 
is  practically  confined  to  particular  localities.  The  mines 


THE   WOOD  233 

of  both  iron  and  coal  are  exhaustible ;  the  forest,  under 
proper  management,  produces  forever. 

2.  Wood  is  cheap ;  metals  are  dear.     Even  in  the  form 
of  lumber,  and  with  the  cost  of  long-distance  transporta- 
tion added,  wood  rarely  costs  the  consumer  in  this  country 
more  than  twenty-five  cents  per  cubic  foot ;  while  iron  in 
bars  and  sheets  is  worth  at  wholesale  from  five  to  ten 
dollars  per  cubic  foot. 

3.  Wood  is  soft;  simple  tools  and  small  effort  suffice 
to  shape  it.     Iron  is  hard ;  any  change  of  form,  whether 
by  casting,    rolling,    sawing,    cutting,    planing,    turning, 
filing,  boring,  or  grinding,  requires  much  labor,  or  else 
complicated    and   costly  processes    and    equipments.     In 
the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  wood  can  be  shaped, 
reshaped,  and  combined  in  structures,  it  excels  all  other 
materials. 

4.  Wood  cleaves  or  splits ;  metals  do  not.     While  this 
property  has  its  disadvantages,  it  is  one  that  in  some 
directions  determines  the  usefulness  of  wood.     It  permits 
ready  preparation  for  fencing  and  firewood,  which  latter 
use  exceeds  in  bulk  ten  times  the  amount  of  iron  and 
steel  used  in  this  country. 

5.  Wood   is  stronger   than   is   usually   supposed.     In 
tensile  strength  (pull  lengthwise  or  with  the  grain  of  the 
wood)  a  bar  of  hickory  exceeds  a  similar  bar  of  wrought 
iron  of  the  same  length  and  weight,  and  it  even  surpasses 
steel  under  the  same  conditions. 


234  FIBST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTBY 

Similarly,  a  select  block  of  hickory  or  of  longleaf  pine 
sustains  a  greater  weight  in  compression  endwise  (parallel 
to  the  grain  of  the  wood)  than  a  block  of  wrought  iron 
of  the  same  height  and  weight,  and  nearly  approaches 
cast  iron  in  this  respect. 

6.  Wood   is   light;    iron   and   steel   are   heavy.     The 
average  weight  of  all  wood  used  in  this  country  does  not 
exceed  thirty-one  pounds  per  cubic  foot ;  that  of  iron  and 
steel  is  from  four  hundred   and  thirty  to  four  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  per  cubic  foot.     This  quality  affects  ease 
of  handling  and  transportation ;  it  permits  the  floating  of 
most  woods  when  green,  and  of  all  of  them  when  dry. 

7.  Wood  is  a  poor  conductor  of  heat  and  electricity. 
Heated  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  degrees  Fahrenheit,  or 
cooled  below  the  freezing  point  of  water,  iron,  steel,  and 
other  metals  are  painful  to  the  touch ;  and  even  far  within 
these  limits  metals  are  objectionable  on  account  of  their 
ready  conductivity  of  heat.     Wood,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
entirely  inoffensive  as  long  as  its  temperature  remains 
within  the  above  limits.    The  objections  to  metal  dwellings 
on  this  account  are  experienced  in  heavy-armored  ships, 
which,  in  spite  of  the  excellence  of  an  ocean  climate,  are 
notoriously  uncomfortable. 

When  exposed  to  heat,  wood  is  ignited  and  destroyed 
by  fire.  The  inflammability  and  combustibility  of  wood 
at  high  temperatures,  though  among  its  most  valuable 
properties,  are,  at  times,  a  drawback  which  metals  do  not 


THE   WOOD  235 

share ;  nevertheless,  during  conflagrations  the  behavior 
of  wooden  structures  is  often  less  objectionable  than  that 
of  metal  structures ;  for,  though  a  beam  of  wood  burns,  it 
retains  its  shape  to  the  last,  and  the  structure  may  stand 
and  be  saved  ;  while  under  the  same  circumstances  metal 
beams  twist  out  of  shape  and  thereby  occasion  the  fall  of 
the  entire  structure.  This  behavior  of  wood  in  conflagra- 
tion has  induced  the  best  authorities,  fire  underwriters 
and  others,  to  recommend  the  use  of  wood  in  all  large 
structures  where  the  combustible  contents  of  the  rooms 
annul  the  value  of  fireproof  metal  construction. 

If  wood  were  a  good  conductor  of  electricity,  its  useful- 
ness as  a  material  of  construction  in  our  large  cities 
would  be  much  impaired,  for  it  appears  to  be  a  very 
serious  and  constantly  growing  difficulty  to  protect  life 
and  property  against  this  dangerous  but  useful  force. 

8.  Woods  are  normally  inoffensive  in  smell  and  taste. 
Liquors  and  wines  of  the  most  delicate  flavors  are  kept  in 
oaken  casks  for  many  years  without  suffering  in  quality. 
Chemical  changes,  often  directly  producing  poison,  pre- 
vent the  use  of  cheap  metals  for  these  purposes. 

9.  Owing  to  their  structure,  all  woods  present  varieties 
of  characteristic  aspects,  and  possess  no  small  degree  of 
beauty.     A  plain  surface  of  metal,  of  whatever  kind,  is 
monotonous ;  while  one  of  wood,  unless  marred  by  paint, 
presents  such  a  variety  of  unobtrusive  figures  that  the 
eye  never  tires  of  seeing  them.     That  this  beauty  is  quite 


236  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

fully  appreciated  is  best  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
pianos,  sideboards,  and  other  elegant  furniture  are  not 
covered  with  sheet  metal  (as  they  might  very  cheaply 
and  effectively  be),  and  that  the  handsome  floors  of  costly 
structures  are  neither  painted  nor  carpeted. 

'  10.  Wood  is  easily  and  effectively  united  by  the  simple 
process  of  gluing,  so  that  valuable  combinations,  whether 
for  behavior,  strength,  or  beauty,  are  possible.  A  three- 
ply  veneer  board  may  be  not  only  as  pretty  but  also 
more  serviceable  than  a  simple  board  of  any  one  of  the 
two  or  three  kinds  of  wood  of  which  it  is  composed;  and 
a  white-pine  door  with  cherry  or  walnut  veneer  is  not 
only  fully  as  handsome  as  a  walnut  door,  but  it  is  far 
superior  in  its  behavior,  since  all  shrinking  and  warping 
is  thereby  practically  prevented.  Iron  and  steel  may  be 
welded ;  most  metals  can  be  soldered  ;  but  neither  of  these 
processes  can  be  compared  to  gluing  in  ease  of  operation. 

So  far  wood  has  been  regarded  only  as  a  material  of 
construction;  but  while  this  is  perhaps  the  most  impor- 
tant consideration,  the  use  of  wood  as  a  substance  which 
may  be  altered  physically  and  chemically  is  far  more 
important  than  is  generally  admitted. 

11.  The  great  mass  of  mankind  is  warmed  and  has  its 
food  cooked  by  wood  fires.  Even  in  this  country  to-day, 
in  spite  of  the  great  competition  of  coal,  three  fourths  of 
all  the  homes  and  thousands  of  manufacturing  establish- 
ments are  supplied  with  heat  from  wood. 


THE   WOOD  237 

12.  Wood  is  ground  into  pulp  and  made  into  paper 
and   pulp   boards   with    endless   variety   of    application. 
Wood  pulp,  made  by  chemical  processes,  results  in  cellu- 
lose and  its  countless  derivatives,  which  are  capable  of 
supplying  almost  anything,  from  a  shirt  collar  to  a  car 
wheel. 

13.  Distillation  of  wood  furnishes  charcoal  to  the  smithy 
or  furnace ;  vinegar  to  the  table  ;  alcohol  to  the  artisan ; 
creosote  to  the  wood  preserver ;  gas  for  fuel  and  light ; 
tar  for  roof  boards  ;  pyroligneous,  oxalic,  acetic,  and  other 
acids,  as  well  as  acetone,  paraffin,  naphthalin,  etc.,  to  the 
manufacturing  chemist ;  and,  by  a  slight  variation  of  the 
process,  lampblack  to  the  printer  and  painter. 

Wood  also  differs  from  the  metals  in  several  other 
respects.  It  is  not  fusible ;  it  cannot  be  cast ;  hence,  to 
duplicate  a  form  in  wood  requires  the  same  amount  of 
effort  as  did  the  original.  Changed  into  pulp,  and  still 
more  into  cellulose,  this  drawback  is  largely  overcome. 
Wood  cannot  be  welded,  —  though,  as  stated  before,  this 
is  more  than  compensated  by  gluing;  nevertheless,  an 
end-to-end  junction  of  the  kind  produced  in  iron  cannot 
be  effected. 

Wood  cannot  be  rolled ;  it  must  be  cut  into  shape ;  but 
owing  to  its  softness  and  cleavability  this  requires  incompar- 
ably less  effort  and  equipment  than  the  rolling  of  metals. 

Wood  is  hygroscopic ;  it  contains  water  under  all  ordi- 
nary conditions,  and  the  amount  so  contained  varies  with 


238  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTKY 

external  conditions  and  with  it  the  dimensions  of  the  piece. 
Though  an  advantage  in  a  barrel  or  tube,  by  making  it 
more  secure  against  leakage,  this  peculiarity  of  wood  is 
nevertheless  a  drawback  not  belonging  to  the  metals,  but 
corresponding  to  the  drawback  in  the  use  of  metals 
occasioned  by  their  annoying  expansion  and  contraction 
due  to  change  of  temperature. 

Wood  decays ;  iron  and  steel  oxidize  or  rust.  Both  are 
serious  drawbacks  to  the  use  of  these  materials ;  but  since 
decay  depends  on  living  organisms,  whose  multiplication 
is  sometimes  extremely  rapid,  at  other  times  almost 
imperceptible,  varying  with  the  conditions  of  the  wood 
(moisture,  temperature,  etc.),  the  decay  of  woods  is  gen- 
erally more  damaging  than  the  oxidation  of  metals. 
Under  water,  wood  lasts  longer  than  steel  or  iron. 


HOW   TO   DISTINGUISH  OUR  COMMON  TREES 

Most  of  us  know  a  few  trees  sufficiently  well  to  distin- 
guish one  kind  from  another.  Usually  it  is  the  general 
appearance,  sometimes  the  bark  or  leaf,  which  we  recog- 
nize; and  often  we  know  the  tree  only  while  in  its 
summer  dress. 

Let  us  examine  our  common  trees  more  closely  and 
note  wherein  they  differ. 

Here  is  a  red-oak  tree.  Breaking  off  a  twig,  we  notice 
that  the  leaves  are  simple  and  not  made  up  of  several 


HOW   TO    DISTINGUISH    TREES  239 

leaflets ;  that  they  stand  singly,  not  in  pairs ;  and  that 
they  are  lobed,  each  lobe  with  one  or  two  sharp  points. 
Examining  the  twig  of  an  elm,  we  find  that  the  leaves 
are  also  simple,  and  alternate,  but  that  they  are  finely 
toothed.  On  this  sprig  of  maple  the  leaves  are  in  pairs, 
they  stand  opposite,  and  are  both  lobed  and  toothed.  On 
the  ash  we  find  each  leaf  made  up  of  several  leaflets ;  it 
is  a  compound  leaf,  and  we  find  the  leaves  opposite  or  in 
pairs,  while  in  the  hickory  the  leaves  are  also  compound 
but  not  in  pairs. 

Thus,  the  leaves  are  an  excellent  guide  to  the  study  of 
trees ;  and  since  opposite  leaves  also  leave  opposite  scars 
and  lead  to  opposite  buds  and  branches,  they  help  us  to 
know  the  trees  even  in  their  winter  garb. 

We  will  arrange  our  common  forest  trees  according  to 
their  leaves,  and  thus  make  a  key  which  will  help  us  to 
recognize  them  with  more  certainty.  Generally  we  shall 
be  assisted  by  the  fruit,  the  twigs,  the  bark,  and  the  buds  ; 
more  rarely  by  the  flowers,  since  these  can  be  seen  only 
during  a  few  days  in  each  year,  and  in  some  cases  are 
even  then  quite  difficult  to  examine. 

Looking  over  our  trees,  we  may  at  once  divide  them 
into  two  large  groups  :  the  evergreen  or  cone-bearing  trees, 
and  the  broad-leaved  or  deciduous  trees.  These  names 
we  must  not  take  too  strictly,  for  some  evergreens  like 
the  tamarack  shed  their  leaves  every  fall,  and  some 
deciduous  trees  like  live  oaks  are  green  the  year  round. 


240  FIRST   BOOK    OF   FORESTRY 

Our  important  cone-bearing  trees  all  belong  to  the  pine 
family.  In  the  pines  the  leaves  are  needle-shaped  and 
long  (up  to  twelve  inches),  while  in  spruce,  balsam,  etc., 
they  are  short,  and  in  most  of  our  cedars  they  are  mere 
green  scales,  closely  appressed  to  the  twig. 

Arranging  the  groups  of  the  pine  family  according  to 
leaf,  fruit,  and  bark,  we  have  the  following  simple  scheme  : 

CONIFERS 
I.    Pines,  spruces,  etc. 

Bark  smooth  or  rough  but  never  stringy.  Leaves  needle-shaped. 
Fruit  a  woody  cone  of  many  scales. 

A.  Leaves  in  bundles  or  clusters. 

a.  Pines.     Leaves   in  bundles  of  two  to  five  in  a  com- 

mon   sheath    (Fig.  89).      Among   pines    we   have 
approximately : 

(1)  Leaves  five  in  a  bundle :  white  pines  (Fig.  45). 

(2)  Leaves  three  in  a  bundle :  yellow  pines  (Fig.  89), 

including  our    southern    and   western    lumber 
pines. 

(3)  Leaves  two  in  a  bundle  :  Norway  pine,  jack  pines, 

and  pinons. 

b.  Larch  or  Tamarack.      The   short,   light  green  leaves, 

in  clusters  of  ten  and  more,  are  not  in  a  common 
sheath  and  are  deciduous  (Fig.  89). 

B.  Leaves  singly  scattered  over  the  twig. 

1.  The  cones  are  pendulous,  i.e.,  hang  downward  ;  they  cling 
to  the  twig  for  months  after  they  are  ripe,  and  do  not 
fall  to  pieces  by  the  dropping  away  of  the  scales. 


FIG.  89.     Conifers  with  Leaves  in  Bundles 

A,  B,  C,  shortleaf  pine;  7),  larch.  A,  pine  leaves  in  bundles  of  two  and  three; 
B,  pine  cones  just  about  ripe  ;  C,  old  empty  pine  cone  still  clinging  to  branch ; 
7>,  larch  ;  leaves  in  bundles  of  ten  or  more 

241 


242 


FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


a.  Spruces.     Leaves  stiff,  mostly  four-sided,  and  pointed ; 

the  bark  scales  are  never  bright  red;  the  wood  is 
white  (Fig.  90,  A). 

b.  Hemlocks.     Leaves  are    soft,   flat,   and  short,  usually 

two-ranked  so  that  the  sprig  appears  flat ;  the  bark 
scales  when  broken  off  appear  red ;  the  wood  has 
a  reddish  cast  (Fig.  90, 


B 


FIG.  90.     Conifers  with  Leaves  not  in  Bundles 

A,  spruce:  leaves  stiff  and  pointed,  cones  hang  down;  C,  red  fir:  leaves  soft, 
cones  hang  down,  bracts  protrude  like  little  tongues;  Z>,  hemlock:  leaves 
short  and  soft,  cones  small,  bracts  do  not  protrude ;  B,  balsam :  cones  erect, 
fall  apart  after  ripening,  so  that  no  old  cones  are  found  on  or  under  the  tree. 
(A  and  D  after  Bureau  of  Forestry ;  B  and  C  after  Beissner) 


B 


FIG.  91.     The  Cedars 

A,  cypress :  the  leaves  deciduous,  cones  persist ;  B,  redwood :  the  leaves  and  cones 
persist ;  (7,  white  cedar :  leaves  are  mere  scales,  cones  spherical :  D,  arbor 
vitfe:  cones  small,  elongated,  hut  persistent.  (All  after  Beissner) 


243 


244  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

c.  Red  Fir.      The    leaves    are    flat,    soft ;    the    cones    are 

"feathered"    by    sharp-pointed    bracts    projecting 
from  between  the  cone-scales   (Fig.  90,  (7). 

2.  The  cones  stand  erect  on  the  twig,  and  fall  to  pieces  soon 
after  ripening,  so  that  no  full-sized  cones  are  seen  on 
the  trees  nor  under  them  except  at  the  time  when  the 
cones  approach  maturity. 

d.  Balsams  or  White  Firs.     Leaves  mostly  soft,  flat,  and 

blunt;  the  bark  mostly  smooth;  the  crown  dense 
and  sharp-pointed  (Fig.  90,  B). 

II.    The  cedars  and  their  allies. 

The  bark  has  a  "  stringy  "  appearance,  so  that  all  trees  of  this 
group  are  conspicuous  on  this  account.  The  leaves  are  needle- 
shaped  or  mere  scales ;  the  fruit  is  a  small  cone,  and,  in  one  group, 
a  berry. 

A.  Leaves  needle-shaped. 

a.  Cypress.     Leaves  deciduous,  the  trees  bare  in  winter ; 

the  heartwood  light  brown  (Fig.  91,  A). 

b.  Redwood.       Leaves     persistent,     the     heartwood     red 

(Fig.  91,  J?). 

B.  Leaves  scalelike,  appressed. 

1.  Fruit  a  persistent  woody  cone,  which  can  be  seen  at  all 

times  of  the  year  on  or  under  the  trees. 

a.  White  Cedars.     Cone  small,  spherical ;  heartwood  light 

brown  (Fig.  91,  (7). 

b.  Bigtree.     Cones  quite  large  ;  heartwood  red. 

c.  Arbor    Vitcrs    and    Incense    Cedar.     Cones    elongated; 

heartwood  brownish  (Fig.  91,  D). 

2.  Fruit  a  berry,  usually  of  a  dark  bluish  color. 
a.    Red  Cedars.     Heartwood  red. 


D 


FIG.  92.    Broad -Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate,  Tooth -Edged  Leaves 

A,  beech;  B,  chestnut;  C,  birch:  the  little  cones  fall  to  pieces  when  ripe;  D, 
poplar:  the  fruit  borne  on  catkins.  (A,  C,  and  D  from  Britton  and  Brown's 
"Illustrated  Flora  of  the  United  States  and  Canada."  B. from  Schwartz' 
"  Forstliche  Botanik  ") 

24o 


246  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

BROAD-LEAVED  TREES 

I.  Leaves  simple  (not  compound,  i.e.,  not  made  up  of  several  leaflets). 
A.    Leaves  alternate,  not  in  pairs. 
1.    The  edge  of  the  leaf  toothed. 

a.  Seech.     Trees  with  smooth,  grayish  green  bark;  fruit 

a  small  prickly  bur  (Fig.  92,  A). 

b.  Chestnut.     Large  trees  with  rough  bark ;  fruit  a  large 

prickly  bur,  often  two  inches  wide  (Fig.  92,  B). 

c.  Birches.     Trees  generally   with  smooth  whitish  bark, 

which  in  most  kinds  curls  up  and  peels  off  in  thin 
layers.  The  bark  of  the  twigs  when  chewed  tastes 
of  wintergreen.  Fruit  a  small  soft  cone,  resembling 
that  of  conifers,  and  falling  apart  when  ripe  (Fig. 
92,  (7),  thus  strewing  the  ground  with  the  small 
crosslike  scales  and  the  tiny  winged  seeds. 

d.  Poplars  and  Cottonwoods.     Bark  smooth  on  young  trees 

and  on  limbs,  rough  on  older  stems ;  wood  soft  and 
white,  very  brittle.  The  fruit  is  very  small  and 
borne  on  little  perishable  catkins  resembling  willow 
"  pussies  "  (Fig.  92,  D),  so  that  it  is  not  ordinarily 
met  with  either  on  or  under  the  tree. 

e.  Elms.     Bark  dark  brown,  rough  ;  the  fruit,  which  ripens 

in  spring,  is  shed  and  blown  away  at  once,  so  that 
it  is  not  commonly  seen ;  the  wood  is  yellowish 
to  reddish  brown  when  fresh,  and  is  very  tough 
(Fig.  93,  A). 

f.  Basswood.     Bark  gray  and  rough,  with  a  tough  stringy 

inner  portion,  the  bast.  The  fruit  is  a  small  round 
berry  like  nut,  of  which  two  or  more  are  attached  to 
a  long  stem  coming  out  of  a  narrow,  specially  modi- 
fied leaf.  These  leaves  and  nuts  endure  for  months 
'  on  and  under  the  tree  (Fig.  93,  B). 


FIG.  93.    Broad-Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate,  Tooth-Edged  Leaves 

A,  Elm:  fruit  ripens  in  spring;  B,  basswood:  fruit  persists;  C,  cherry:  bark 
tastes  of  almond ;  D,  sycamore :  fruit  conspicuous  and  persistent.  (After 
Britton  and  Brown's  "  Illustrated  Flora  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  ") 


247 


248  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

g.  Cherry.  Bark  scaly,  of  dark  color,  its  inner  part  with 
a  taste  of  cherry  seeds  ;  heartwood  of  reddish  color 
and  hard.  The  fruit  is  so  perishable  that  it  helps 
us  to  distinguish  the  tree  only  for  a  short  time  in 
summer  (Fig.  93,  C). 

h.  Sycamore  or  Button  Tree.  Bark  whitish  to  greenish 
gray,  smooth,  peeling  off  more  or  less  regularly  and 
thus  gives  the  tree  a  very  conspicuous  appearance. 
The  peculiar  fruit  (Fig.  93,  Z>)  persists  all  through 
winter  and  thus  helps  us  to  recognize  this  tree. 
2.  The  edge  of  the  leaf  lobed. 

i.  Oaks.  The  bark  of  the  older  trees  is  rough  ;  the  fruit, 
or  acorn,  is  similar  in  all  kinds  of  oaks,  consisting 
of  a  scaly  cup  and  a  leathery  smooth  berry  or  nut 
containing  the  fleshy  seed.  There  are  three  distinct 
groups  of  oaks  :  the  white  oaks,  red  oaks  (includ- 
ing the  so-called  black  oaks)  and  the  live  oaks.  In 
the  different  kinds  of  red  and  white  oaks  the  leaves 
vary  considerably  in  size  and  shape  ;  some  are  large 
and  much  lobed,  others  small  and  almost  or  entirely 
without  lobes,  so  that  a  part  of  the  oaks  might  well 
be  treated  under  another  group. 

The  following   scheme    helps   to    separate   the   principal 
groups  of  oaks. 

(1)  Leaves  with  bristlelike  tips  on  their  lobes,  or  at 
their  tips  if  entire  :  red  oaks. 

(a)  Leaves  large,  much  lobed :   red,  scarlet,  black, 

and  Spanish  oaks  (Fig.  94,  A). 

(b)  Leaves    broad,   little   lobed:    black  jack   and 

water  oaks. 

(c)  Leaves  mostly  entire,  narrow,  pointed,  bristle- 

tipped  :    willow,    laurel,    and    shingle   oak 
(Fig.  94,  C). 


FIG.  94.     Broad-Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate, 
but  Lobed  Leaves 

A,  red  oak ;  B,  white  oak ;  C',  willow  oak ;  D,  live  oak  (this  latter  really  belongs 
in  the  next  group  of  trees,  if  classed  by  its  leaves).  (A,  C,  and  D  after 
Dippel;  B  from  Britton  and  Brown's  "Illustrated  Flora  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada  ") 

249 


250  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

(2)  Leaves  large,  lobed,  the  tip  of  the  lobes  rounded 

and  not  pointed  or  bristle-tipped  :  white,  bur, 
and  post  oak  (Fig.  94,  B). 

(3)  Leaves    crenate  or  toothed,   resembling   those  of 

chestnut :  chestnut  oaks,  including  the  cow  oak 
(Fig.  95,  A). 

(4)  Leaves  small,  rounded,  leathery,  and  evergreen:  live 

oaks  (Fig.  94,  Z>).  Really  belonging  to  group  3. 
j.  Tulip  or  Yellow  Poplar.  A  rough-barked  tree  with  a 
leaf  so  peculiar  in  shape  (Fig.  95,  (7)  that  it  is 
never  mistaken  for  any  other.  The  flower  resembles 
a  tulip,  is  green  and  yellow ;  the  fruit  is  a  cone 
which  persists  all  through  winter. 

k.  Sweet  or  Red  Gum,  Trees  with  long-stalked,  five- 
lobed,  finely  toothed  leaves  and  rough,  long-stalked 
little  balls  for  fruit.  The  fruit  persists  a  long  time 
after  ripening,  so  that  it  may  be  seen  all  winter 
(Fig.  95,  p). 

I.  Sassafras.  Trees  with  large  entire  edged  leaves,  most 
of  which  have  one  large  lobe,  giving  them  some- 
what the  shape  of  a  mitten,  while  some  leaves 
have  two  lobes  and  some  have  none.  Fruit  a  blue 
berry  ripening  in  summer  (Fig.  95,  B). 

3.    The  edge  of  the  leaf  neither  lobed  nor  toothed. 

m.  Magnolias,  including  the  Cucumber  Tree.  Leaves  very 
large  (often  more  than  twelve  inches  long) ;  flowers 
large  and  showy;  fruit  a  soft-scaled  cone  (Fig.  96,  A). 

n.  Tupelo;  Black  or  Sour  Gums.  Trees  of  the  swamps, 
chiefly  of  the  South,  with  bluish  or  blackish  berries, 
each  containing  a  stone  or  pit.  In  the  cotton  gum, 
or  large  tupelo,  some  of  the  leaves  have  one  or  a 
few  irregularly  disposed  notches  (Fig.  96,  B). 


D 


Broad-Leaved  Trees  with  Simple,  Alternate, 
but  Lobed  Leaves 

A,  chinquapin  oak;  B,  sassafras;  C,  tulip  poplar:  cones  persist  all  winter;  D, 
sweet  gum :  fruit  persists.  (A  after  Dippel ;  B,  C,  and  D  from  Brltton  and 
Brown's  "  Illustrated  Flora  of  the  United  States  and  Canada") 

251 


B 


FIG.  96.     Leaves  Simple,  Alternate,  but  with  Entire  Edge, 
and  Trees  with  Opposite  Leaves 

A,  magnolia ;  B,  tupelo,  or  sour  gum ;  C,  catalpa :  leaves  with  edges  entire,  fruit 
a  long  pod ;  D,  sugar  maple :  leaves  lobed,  fruit  two-pronged,  winged.  (From 
Britton  and  Brown's  "Illustrated  Flora  of  the  United  States  and  Canada") 

252 


B 


C 

FIG.  97.     Compound  Leaves,  but  Alternate 

honey  locust:  with  large  thorns  and  large  pods;  B,  black  locust  (Robinia): 
small  pods  and  thorns ;  C,  butternut ;  D,  hickory.  (A,  B,  and  C  from  Britton 
and  Brown's  "  Illustrated  Flora  of  the  United  States  and  Canada"  ;  D  after 
Dippcl) 

-        253 


254  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FOEESTEY 

B.    Leaves  opposite  or  in  pairs. 

a.  Maples.     Eough-barked  trees,  with  five-lobed,  notched 

or  toothed  leaves,  and  a  peculiarly  shaped  winged 
twin-fruit,  which  is  so  persistent  that  it  may  serve 
in  most  cases  to  identify  the  tree  (Fig.  96,  D). 

b.  Catalpa  or  Indian  Bean.     Leaves  large,  entire  (occa- 

sionally three-lobed) ;  flowers  in  large  clusters,  very 
showy;  fruit  a  long  (twelve  inches  and  more) 
brown  pod,  resembling  that  of  the  bean  (Fig.  96,  (7). 


II.    Leaves  compound,  or  made  up  of  several  leaflets. 

A.    Leaf  feather-shaped,  the  leaflets  arranged  on  two  sides  of 
a  straight  stem  (Fig.  97,  A). 

1.    Leaves  alternate. 

a.  The  edge  of  the  leaflets  entire,  i.e.,  not  toothed. 

Locusts  (Fig.  97,  A  and  B).  Of  these,  the  honey 
locust  has  large  thorns  and  broad  brown  pods  six 
to  ten  inches  long ;  and  the  Hack  locust,  or  Robinia, 
has  practically  no  thorns,  and  small  pods  two  to 
three  inches  in  length. 

b.  The  edge  of  the  leaflets  toothed. 

Walnuts  and  Hickories,  including  Pecan.  In  the 
walnut,  black  walnut,  and  white  walnut,  or  butter- 
nut, there  are  usually  thirteen  to  twenty-three  leaf- 
lets to  one  leaf  and  the  husk  of  the  nut  does  not 
split  open  along  definite  lines ;  in  the  hickories, 
including  the  pecan,  the  husk  opens  along  well- 
defined  lines  and  the  number  of  leaflets  varies 
usually  from  five  to  nine,  being  nine  to  fifteen  only 
in  the  pecan  and  water  hickory  (Fig.  97,  C  and  D). 


FIG.  98.     Compound  Leaves, 
Opposite 

A,  box  elder:  fruit  of  maple ;  B,  white 
ash:  the  fruit  persists  all  through 
winter;  compound  leaves,  palmate; 
(7,  buckeye,  or  horse-chestnut.  (From 
Britton  and  Brown's  "Illustrated 
Flora  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada  ") 


255 


256  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

2.   Leaves  opposite. 

a.  Ashes.     Rough-barked  trees,  with  the  leaflets  of  their 

leaves  entire  or  toothed  and  the  singularly  shaped 
winged  fruit  in  persistent  clusters  (Fig.  98,  B). 

b.  Box  Elder.     This   tree  is   really  one  of  the  maples, 

has  a  typical  maple  fruit  which  clings  to  the  twigs 
all  through  winter,  but  has  a  compound  leaf,  con- 
sisting of  three  to  five,  toothed  or  notched  leaflets 
(Fig.  98,  .4).  _ 

B.    The  compound  leaf  palmate,  its  leaflets  arranged  like   the 
fingers  of  the  hand. 

Buckeye  or  Horse- Chestnut,  well  illustrated  by  the 
common  European  horse-chestnut,  whose  large  buds 
and  large,  smooth  chestnut-brown  nut  inside  of  a 
prickly  bur  are  familiar  to  every  one  (Fig.  108  C). 


How  TO  USE  THE  KEY 

It  is  early  fall ;  the  leaves  are  still  on  our  broad-leaved 
trees.  Here  is  a  tree ;  what  may  be  its  name  ?  Let  us 
get  a  twig  and  examine  it.  It  has  simple,  toothed  leaves ; 
they  are  alternate  (not  in  pairs),  there  is  no  fruit,  the  bark 
of  the  tree  is  dark  and  rough,  the  twigs  are  tough.  Let 
us  glance  over  our  Key. 

Evidently  it  belongs  to  the  broad-leaved  trees,  and  to 
the  first  group  under  I,  A,  1. 

Were  it  beech,  chestnut,  sycamore,  basswood,  or  birch, 
we  should  find  some  fruit  on  or  under  the  tree. 


HOW   TO  DISTINGUISH   TREES  257 

For  poplar  the  bark  is  too  dark,  the  twigs  too  dark  and 
tough ;  so  it  must  be  either  cherry  or  elm.  Let  us  cut 
into  the  bark  and  taste  its  inner  part.  Evidently  it  has 
no  cherry-seed  taste,  and  moreover  the  bark  is  not  scaly. 
Hence  we  conclude  it  to  be  an  elm. 

It  is  late  in  the  fall,  the  leaves  are  largely  shed,  but 
there  is  no  snow  on  the  ground.  Here  is  a  rough-barked 
tree,  and  we  would  like  to  know  its  name. 

There  are  a  few  small  bean  pods  clinging  to  some  of 
its  twigs,  the  tree  is  not  thorny,  and  on  the  ground  we 
find  some  compound  leaves.  Looking  over  our  Key,  we 
note  that  we  have  only  two  kinds  of  trees  with  bean-pod- 
like  fruits,  —  the  catalpa  and  the  locusts. 

Having  evidently  had  compound  leaves,  we  decide  it 
to  be  a  locust,  and  since  the  pods  are  small  and  the 
tree  is  not  beset  with  large  thorns,  it  must  be  a  black 
locust. 

Here  is  a  cone-bearing  tree.  The  needle-shaped  leaves 
are  in  bundles,  five  leaves  in  one  sheath.  From  our  Key 
we  see  that  this  evergreen  is  evidently  a  pine,  and  that  it 
belongs  to  the  white  pines. 

Here  is  a  small  evergreen  with  scalelike  leaves ;  the 
bark  is  "  stringy,"  but  there  is  no  fruit  either  on  or  under 
the  tree.  Let  us  cut  off  one  of  the  larger  limbs;  the 
wood  is  reddish  in  the  inner  or  heartwood  portion.  Going 
over  our  Key,  we  place  it  at  once  among  the  cedars ;  and, 
finding  a  red  heartwood  in  this  small  gnarly  tree,  we 


258 


FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 


conclude  it  to  be  a  red  cedar,  whose  berries  have  been 
eaten  by  the  birds  so  that  we  could  not  find  any  fruit. 

In  this  way  some  practice  will  soon  enable  us  to  tell 
our  common  trees  with  ease,  and  we  shall  then  be  better 
prepared  to  learn  how  these  different  trees  behave  and  what 
they  need.  Having  gained  this  enjoyable  familiarity  with 
our  friends,  we  are  able  to  learn  for  ourselves  what  is 
required  to  make  them  produce  the  largest  amount  of  the 
most  valuable  material  in  the  shortest  time  and  at  the 
least  expense. 


APPENDIX  I 


THE   DOYLE-SCRIBNER   LOG   SCALE 


INCHES  IN 
DIAMETER 

12  FEET 
LONG 

14  FEET 
LONG 

16  FEET 
LONG 

INCHES  IN 
DIAMETER 

12  FEET 
LONG 

14  FEET 
LONG 

16  FEET 
LONG 

10 

27 

32 

36 

36 

768 

896 

1024 

11 

37 

43 

49 

37 

817 

953 

1089 

12 

48 

56 

64 

38 

867 

1011 

1156 

13 

61 

71 

81 

39 

910 

1070 

1225 

14 

75 

88 

100 

40 

972 

1134 

1296 

15 

91 

106 

121 

41 

1027 

1198 

1369 

16 

108 

126 

144 

42 

1083 

1264 

1444 

17 

127 

148 

169 

43 

1141 

1331 

1521 

18 

147 

171 

196 

44 

1200 

1400 

1600 

19 

169 

197 

225 

45 

1261 

1471 

1681 

20 

192 

224 

256 

46 

1323 

1544 

1764 

21 

217 

253 

289 

47 

1387 

1618 

1849 

22 

243 

283 

324 

48 

1452 

1694 

1936 

23 

271 

313 

359 

49 

1519 

1772 

2025 

24 

300 

350 

400 

50 

1587 

1850 

2116 

25 

331 

386 

441 

51 

1657 

1933 

2209 

26 

363 

423 

484 

52 

1728 

2016 

2304 

27 

397 

463 

530 

53 

1801 

2101 

2401 

28 

432 

504 

576 

54 

1875 

2187 

2500 

29 

469 

547 

625 

55 

1951 

2276 

2601 

30 

507 

591 

676 

56 

2028 

2366 

2704 

31 

547 

638 

729 

57 

2107 

2458 

2809 

32 

588 

686 

784 

58 

2187 

2551 

2916 

33 

631 

736 

841 

59 

2269 

•  2647 

3025 

34 

675 

787 

900 

60 

2352 

2744 

3136 

35 

721 

841 

961 

EXAMPLE  :  If  the  log  is  22  inches  in  diameter  at  the  smaller  end  and  is  14  feet  long, 
look  for  22  inches  under  Diameter,  and  you  will  see  in  the  column  under  14  feet  283, 
which  is  the  number  of  board  feet  in  this  log. 

If  the  log  is  18  feet  long,  it  contains  If  as  much  as  a  12-foot  log. 

Logs  24  feet  and  over  should  be  measured  every  16  feet,  or  fraction  thereof.  This 
is  not  generally  done,  but  neglect  to  do  so  causes  much  inaccuracy. 

259 


APPENDIX  II 


TABLE   OF   CIRCLES 


INCHES  IN 
DIAMETER 

AREA  IN 
SQUARE 
FEET 

INCHES  IN 
DIAMETER 

AREA  IN 
SQUARE 
FEET 

INCHES  IN 
DIAMETER 

AREA  IN 
SQUARE 
FEET 

2 

0.022 

26 

3.68 

50 

13.63 

4 

0.087 

28 

4.27 

52 

14.74 

6 

0.196 

30 

4.90 

54 

15.90 

8     , 

0.349 

32 

5.58 

56 

17.10 

10 

0.545 

34 

6.30 

58 

18.34 

12 

0.785 

36 

7.06 

60 

19.63 

14 

1.069 

38 

7.87 

62 

20.96 

16 

1.396 

40 

8.72 

64 

22.34 

18. 

1.767 

42 

9.62 

66 

23.75 

20 

2.181 

44 

10.55 

68 

25.22 

22 

2.639 

46 

11.54 

70 

26.72 

24 

3.141 

48 

12.56 

72 

28.67 

APPENDIX  III 


LIST  OF  THE  MORE  IMPORTANT  WOODS  AND  TREES  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES 

[Arranged  alphabetically] 

A.  — CONIFEROUS  WOODS 

Woods  of  simple  and  uniform  structure,  generally  light  and  soft,  but 
stiff;  abundant  in  suitable  dimensions  and  forming  by  far  the  greatest 
part  of  all  the  lumber  used. 

CEDAR.  —  Light,  soft,  stiff,  not  strong,  of  fine  texture ;  sap  and  heart 
wood  distinct,  the  former  lighter,  the  latter  a  dull  grayish  brown,  or 
red.  The  wood  seasons  rapidly,  shrinks  and  checks  but  little,  and  is 
very  durable.  Used  like  soft  pine,  but  owing  to  its  great  durability 
preferred  for  shingles,  etc.  Small  sizes  used  for  posts,  ties,  etc.1  Cedars 
usually  occur  scattered,  but  they  form,  in  certain  localities,  forests  of 
considerable  extent. 
a.  White  cedars.  —  Heartwood  a  light  grayish  brown. 

THE  ARBOR  VIT^S  AND  INCENSE  CEDAR 

1.  WHITE  CEDAR  {Thuja  occidentalis)  (arbor  vitre) :  Scattered  along 

streams  and  lakes,  frequently  covering  extensive  swamps  ;  rarely 
large  enough  for  lumber,  but  commonly  used  for  posts,  ties,  etc. 
Maine  to  Minnesota  and  northward. 

2.  CANOE  CEDAR  (Thuja  gigantea)  (usually  called  red  cedar  in  the 

West):  In  Oregon  and  Washington  a  very  large  tree,  covering 

1  Since  almost  all  kinds  of  woods  are  used  for  fuel  and  charcoal,  and  in  the  construction 
of  fences,  sheds,  barns,  etc.,  the  enumeration  of  these  uses  has  been  omitted  in  this  list. 

261 


262  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

extensive  areas;  in  the  mountains  smaller,  skirting  the  water 
courses ;  an  important  lumber  tree.  Washington  to  northern 
California  and  eastward  to  Montana. 

3.  WHITE  CEDAR  (Libocedrus  decurrens)  (incense  cedar)  :  A  large  tree, 

abundantly  scattered  among  pine  and  fir  ;  wood  fine  grained. 
Cascade  and  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  of  Oregon  and  California. 

THE  WHITE  CEDARS  PROPER 

4.  WHITE  CEDAR   (Chamcecyparis  thyoides)   (often   called  juniper) : 

Medium-sized  tree ;  wood  very  light  and  soft.  Along  the  coast 
from  Maine  to  Mississippi. 

6.  WHITE  CEDAR  (Chamcecyparis  lawsoniana)  (Port  Orford  cedar, 
Oregon  cedar,  Lawson's  cypress,  ginger  pine)  :  A  very  large  tree, 
extensively  cut  for  lumber  ;  heavier  and  stronger  than  the  pre- 
ceding. Along  the  coast  line  of  Oregon. 

6.  YELLOW  or  ALASKA  CEDAR  (Chamcecyparis  nooikatensis)  :  Medium- 
to  large-sized  tree.  Mountains  of  Washington,  coast  from  Puget 
Sound  northwards. 

6.  Red  cedars.  —  Heartwood  red. 

1.  RED  CEDAR  (Juniperus   virginianc?)  (Savin  juniper):   Similar  to 

white  cedar,  but  of  somewhat  finer  texture.  Used  in  cabinet- 
work, in  cooperage,  for  veneers,  and  especially  for  lead  pencils, 
for  which  purpose  alone  several  million  feet  are  cut  each  year.  A 
small-  to  medium-sized  tree  scattered  through  the  forests,  or,  in 
the  West,  sparsely  covering  extensive  areas  (cedar  brakes).  The 
red  cedar  is  the  most  widely  distributed  conifer  of  the  United 
States,  occurring  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  from 
Florida  to  Minnesota,  but  attains  a  suitable  size  for  lumber  only 
in  the  Southern,  and  more  especially  the  Gulf  States. 

2.  REDWOOD   (Sequoia  sempervirens) :  Wood  in  its  quality  and  uses 

like  white  cedar;  the  narrow  sapwood  whitish;  the  heartwood 
light  red,  soon  turning  to  brownish  red  when  exposed.  A  very 
large  tree,  limited  to  the  coast  ranges  of  California,  and  forming 
considerable  forests,  which  are  rapidly  being  converted  into 
lumber. 


APPENDIX  III  263 

CYPRESS. 

CYPRESS  (Taxodium  distichum)  (bald  cypress;  black,  white,  and  red 
cypress) :  Wood  in  appearance,  quality,  and  uses  similar  to  white 
cedar.  "Black  cypress"  and  "  white  cypress  "  are  dark  and  light 
forms  of  the  same  species.  The  cypress  is  a  large  deciduous  tree, 
occupying  much  of  the  swamp  and  overflow  land  along  the  coast 
and  rivers  of  the  Southern  States. 

FIR.  —  This  name  is  frequently  applied  to  wood  and  to  trees  which  are 
not  fir ;  most  commonly  to  spruce,  but  also,  especially  in  English 
markets,  to  pine.  It  resembles  spruce,  but  is  easily  distinguished  from 
it,  as  well  as  from  pine  and  larch,  by  the  absence  of  resin  ducts. 
Quality,  uses,  and  habits  similar  to  spruce.  The  trees  furnishing  this 
wood  are  generally  called  balsams. 

1.  BALSAM  (Abies  balsamea)  :  A  medium-sized  tree,  scattered  throughout 

the  northern  pineries  ;  cut,  in  lumber  operations  whenever  of 
sufficient  size,  and  sold  with  pine  or  spruce.  Minnesota  to  Maine 
and  northward. 

2.  BALSAM  or  WHITE  FIR  (Abies  grandis  and  Abies  concolor)  :  Medium- 

to  very  large-sized  tree,  forming  an  important  part  of  some  of  the 
western  mountain  forests.  The  former  occurs  from  Vancouver 
to  central  California  and  eastward  to  Montana;  the  latter  from 
Oregon  to  Arizona  and  eastward  to  Colorado  and  New  Mexico. 

3.  MOUNTAIN  BALSAM  (Abies  amabilis)  :  Good-sized  tree,  often  forming 

extensive  mountain  forests.  Cascade  Mountains  of  Washington 
and  Oregon. 

4.  BALSAM  or  WHITE  FIR  (Abies  nobilis)  (sometimes  called  red  fir ;  not 

to  be  confounded  with  Douglas  fir  or  red  fir)  :  Large  to  very  large 
tree;  occurs  with  A.  amabilis  in  the  forests  on  the  slope  of  the 
mountains  between  three  thousand  and  four  thousand  feet  eleva- 
tion. Cascade  Mountains  of  Oregon. 

5.  BALSAM  or  WHITE  FIR  (Abies  magnified}  :  Very  large  tree,  in  forests 

about  the  base  of  Mount  Shasta.  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  of 
California,  from  Mount  Shasta  southward. 

HEMLOCK.  —  Light  to  medium  weight,  soft,  stiff  but  brittle,  commonly 
crossgrained,  rough,  and  splintery ;  sapwood  and  heartwood  not  well 


264  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

defined ;  the  wood  of  a  light  reddish  gray  color,  free  from  rosin  ducts, 
moderately  durable,  shrinks  and  warps  considerably,  wears  rough, 
retains  nails  firmly.  Used  principally  for  dimension  stuff  and  timbers. 
Hemlocks  are  medium-  to  large-sized  trees,  commonly  scattered  among 
broad-leaved  trees  and  conifers,  but  often  forming  forests  of  almost 
pure  growth. 

1.  HEMLOCK  (Tsuga  canademis'}  :  medium-sized  tree;  furnishes  almost 

all  the  hemlock  of  the   eastern   market.     Maine   to  Wisconsin  ; 
also  following  the  Alleghenies  southward  to  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

2.  HEMLOCK  (Tsuga  mertensiana)  :  Large-sized  tree;  wood  claimed  to 

be  heavier  and  harder  than  the   eastern    form  and  of  superior 
quality.     Washington  to  California  and  eastward  to  Montana. 

LARCH  or  TAMARACK.  —  Wood  similar  to  hard  pine  in  appearance, 
quality,  and  uses,  and,  owing  to  its  durability,  used  in  shipbuilding, 
and  for  telegraph  poles  and  railroad  ties.  Our  eastern  tamarack  is  not 
fully  appreciated ;  the  western  form  is  used  extensively  as  ordinary 
lumber.  In  its  structure  it  resembles  spruce.  The  larches  are  decidu- 
ous trees,  occasionally  covering  considerable  areas,  but  usually  scattered 
among  other  conifers. 

1.  TAMARACK    (Larix   laricina)     (hackmatack)  :    Medium-sized    tree, 

often  covering  swamps.     Maine  to  Minnesota,  and  southward  to 
Pennsylvania. 

2.  TAMARACK  (Larix  occidentalism  :  Large-sized  trees,  scattered,  locally 

abundant.     Washington  and  Oregon  to  Montana. 

PINE.  —  Very  variable,  very  light  and  soft  in  "  soft "  pine,  such  as  white 
pine  ;  of  medium  weight  to  heavy,  and  quite  hard  in  "  hard  "  pine,  of 
which  long-leaf  or  Georgia  pine  is  the  extreme  form.  Usually  it  is  stiff, 
very  strong,  of  even  texture,  and  more  or  less  resinous.  The  sapwood 
is  yellowish  white ;  the  heartwood,  orange  brown.  Pine  shrinks 
moderately,  seasons  rapidly  and  without  much  injury  ;  it  works  easily  ; 
is  never  too  hard  to  nail  (unlike  oak  or  hickory)  ;  it  is  mostly  quite 
durable  and,  if  well  seasoned,  is  not  subject  to  the  attacks  of  boring 
insects.  The  heavier  the  wood,  the  darker,  stronger,  and  harder  it  is, 
and  the  more  it  shrinks  and  checks.  Pine  is  used  more  extensively 
than  any  other  kind  of  wood.  It  is  the  principal  wood  in  common 


APPENDIX  III  265 

carpentry,  as  well  as  in  all  heavy  construction,  —  bridges,  trestles,  etc. 
It  is  also  used  in  almost  every  other  wood  industry :  for  spars,  masts, 
planks,  and  timbers  in  shipbuilding,  in  car  and  wagon  construction, 
in  cooperage,  for  crates  and  boxes,  in  furniture  work,  for  toys  and 
patterns,  railway  ties,  water  pipes,  excelsior,  etc.  Pines  are  usually 
large  trees  with  few  branches,  the  straight,  cylindrical,  useful  stem 
forming  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  the  tree  ;  they  occur  gregariously, 
forming  vast  forests,  a  fact  which  greatly  facilitates  their  exploitation. 
Of  the  many  special  terms  applied  to  pine  as  lumber,  denoting  some- 
times differences  in  quality,  the  following  deserve  attention : 

"White  pine,"  "pumpkin pine,"  "soft pine,"  in  the  eastern  markets 
refer  to  the  wood  of   the  white   pine    (Pinus  strobus) ;    on   the 
Pacific  coast  to  that  of  the  sugar  pine  (Pinus  lambertiand),  and  in 
the  northern  Rockies  to  the  white  pine  (Pinus  monticola). 
"  Yellow  pine  "  is  applied  in  the  trade  to  all  the  southern  lumber 
pines ;  in  the  Northeast  it  is  also  applied  to  the  pitch  pine  (Pinus 
rigidd)  ;  in  the  West  it  refers  mostly  to  Pinus  ponderosa. 
"  Yellow  longleaf  pine,"    "  Georgia  pine,"  chiefly  used  in  advertise- 
ment, refers  to  longleaf  pine  (Pinus  palwtris). 

"  Hard  pine  "  is  a  common  term  in  carpentry,  and  applies  to  every- 
thing except  white  pine. 

"  Pitch  pine  "  includes  all  southern  pines  and  also  the  true  pitch  pine 
(Pinus  rigid  a),  but  is  mostly  applied,  especially  in  foreign  markets, 
to  the  wood  of  the  longleaf  pine  (Pinus  palustris). 
a.  Soft  pines. 

1.  WHITE  PINE  (Pinus  strobus)  :  Large-  to  very  large-sized  tree  ;  for 

the  last  fifty  years  the  most  important  timber  tree  of  the  Union, 
furnishing  the  best  quality  of  soft  pine.  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
Michigan,  New  England,  and  along  the  Alleghenies  to  Georgia. 

2.  SUGAR  PINE  (Pinus  lambertiand}  :   A  very  large  important  lumber 

tree.     Oregon  and  California. 

3.  WHITE  PINE  (Pinus  monticola)  :  A  large  tree,  at  home  in  Montana, 

Idaho,  and  the  Pacific  States. 

4.  WHITE   PINE   (Pinus  flexilis} :   A    small    tree,    scattered   in   the 

mountain  forests  of  the  eastern  Rocky  Mountain  slopes,  Mon- 
tana to  New  Mexico. 


266  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

b.  Hard  pines. 

1.  LONGLEAF  PINE  (Pinus  palustris)  (Georgia  pine,  yellow  pine,  long 

straw  pine,  etc.)  :  Large  tree ;  forms  extensive  forests  and  fur- 
nishes the  hardest  and  strongest  pine  lumber  in  the  market. 
Coast  region  from  North  Carolina  to  Texas. 

2.  YELLOW   PINE  (Pinus  ponderosa)  :  Medium-  to    very  large-sized 

tree,  forming  extensive  forests  in  the  Pacific  and  Rocky  Mountain 
regions ;  furnishes  most  of  the  hard  pine  of  the  West ;  sapwood 
wide  ;  wood  very  variable. 

3.  LOBLOLLY  PINE  (Pinus  tceda}  (shortleaf  pine,  old  field  pine,  rose- 

mary pine,  sap  pine,  etc.)  :  Large-sized  tree,  forms  extensive 
forests  ;  wider  ringed,  coarser,  lighter,  softer,  with  more  sapwood 
than  the  longleaf  pine,  but  the  two  often  confounded.  This  is 
the  common  lumber  pine  from  Virginia  to  South  Carolina,  and 
is  found  extensively  in  Arkansas  and  Texas,  Southern  States 
and  Virginia  to  Texas  and  Arkansas. 

4.  NORWAY  PINE  (Pinus  resinosa)  :  Large-sized  tree,  usually  scattered 

or  in  small  groves,  together  with  white  pine ;  largely  sapwood 
and  hence  not  durable.  Minnesota  to  Michigan,  also  New 
England  to  Pennsylvania. 

5.  SHORTLEAF  PINE  (Pinus  echinata)  (North  Carolina  pine,  yellow 

pine,  etc.)  :  Resembles  loblolly  pine ;  often  approaches  in  its 
wood  the  Norway  pine.  The  common  lumber  pine  of  Missouri 
and  Arkansas.  North  Carolina  to  Texas  and  Missouri. 

6.  CUBAN  PINE  (Pinus  cubensis)   (slash  pine)  :  Resembles  longleaf 

pine,  but  commonly  has  wider  sapwood  and  coarser  grain  ;  does 
not  enter  the  markets  to  any  great  extent.  Along  the  coast  from 
South  Carolina  to  Louisiana. 

7.  BULL  PINE  (Pinus  jeffreyi)  (black  pine)  :  Large-sized  tree,  tree 

and  wood  resembling  yellow  pine  (Pinus  ponderosa)  ;  used  locally 
in  California,  replacing  Pinus  ponderosa  at  high  altitudes. 
The  following  are  small-  to  medium-sized  pines  known  generally  as 

jack  pines,  not  commonly  offered  as  lumber  in  the  market ;  used  locally 

for  timber,  ties,  etc. : 

8.  JACK  PINE  (Pinus  murrayana)  (lodge-pole  pine,  black  pine,  white 

pine,  tamarack)  :  Rocky  Mountains  and  Pacific  regions. 


APPENDIX  III  267 

9.   PITCH  PINE  (Pinus  rigida)  :  Along  the  coast  from  New  York  to 
Georgia  and  along  the  mountains  to  Kentucky. 

10.  SCRUB,  JACK,  or  JERSEY  PINE  (Pinus  virginiana)  (scrub  pine)  :  As 

before. 

11.  JACK  PINE  (Pinus  divaricata)  (scrub  pine)  :  Maine,  Vermont,  and 

Michigan  to  Minnesota. 

REDWOOD.     (See  CEDAR.) 

SPRUCE.  —  Resembles  soft  pine,  is  light,  soft,  stiff,  moderately  strong,  less 
resinous  than  pine ;  has  no  distinct  heartwood,  and  is  of  whitish  color. 
Used  like  soft  pine,  but  also  employed  as  resonance  wood  and  preferred 
for  paper  pulp.  Spruces,  like  pines,  form  extensive  forests ;  they  are 
more  frugal,  thrive  on  thinner  soils,  and  bear  more  shade,  but  usually 
require  a  more  humid  and  colder  climate. 

1.  RED  or  BLACK  SPRUCE  (Picea  mariana)  :  Medium-sized  tree  ;  forms 

extensive  forests  in  northeastern    United  States  and  in  British' 
America;  occurs  scattered  or  in  groves,  especially  in  low  lands 
throughout  the  northern    pineries.     Important    lumber   tree    in 
eastern  United    States.     Maine  to  Minnesota,  British  America, 
and  on  the  Alleghenies  to  North  Carolina. 

2.  WHITE  SPRUCE  (Picea  canadetisis)  :  Generally  associated  with  the 

preceding ;  grows  largest  in  Montana  and  forms  the  most  impor- 
tant tree  of  the  subarctic  forest  of  British  America.  Northern 
United  States,  from  Maine  to  Minnesota,  also  from  Montana  to 
Pacific,  British  America. 

3.  A\THITE  SPRUCE   (Picea  engelmanni')  :  Medium-  to  large-sized  tree, 

forming  extensive  forests  at  elevations  from  five  thousand  to  ten 
thousand  feet  above  sea  level ;  resembles  the  preceding,  but  occu- 
pies a  different  station.  The  common  spruce  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains and  Cascades. 

4.  TIDE-LAND  SPRUCE  (Picea  sitchensis)  :  A  large-sized  tree,  common 

in  the  coast-belt  forest.  Along  the  seacoast  from  Alaska  to 
central  California. 

RED  FIR  or  DOUGLAS  SPRUCE.  —  Spruce  or  fir  in  name,  but  resembling 
hard  pine  or  larch  in  the  appearance,  quality,  and  uses  of  its  wood. 


268  FIBST   BOOK   OF   FOKESTKY 

RED  FIR  (Pseudotsuga  douglasii)  (yellow  fir,  Oregon  pine,  Douglas 
spruce)  :  The  most  important  tree  of  the  western  United  States ; 
grows  very  large  in  the  Pacific  States,  to  fair  size  in  all  parts  of 
the  mountains,  in  Colorado  up  to  about  ten  thousand  feet  above  sea 
level ;  forms  extensive  forests,  often  of  pure  growth.  Wood  very 
variable,  usually  coarse  grained  and  heavy,  with  very  pronounced 
summer  wood,  hard  and  strong  (u  red  "  fir),  but  often  fine  grained 
and  lighter  ("  yellow  "  fir).  Jt  replaces  hard  pine  and  is  especially 
suited  to  heavy  construction.  From  the  plains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 
and  from  Mexico  to  British  America. 

TAMARACK.     (See  LARCH.) 

YEW.  —  Wood  heavy,  hard,  extremely  stiff  and  strong,  of  fine  texture, 
with  a  pale  yellow  sapwood,  and  an  orange  red  heart ;  seasons  well,  and  is 
quite  durable.  Yew  is  extensively  used  for  archery,  bows,  turner's  ware, 
etc.  The  yews  form  no  forests,  but  occur  scattered  with  other  conifers. 
YEW  (Taxus  brevifoli(i)  :  A  small-  to  medium-sized  tree  of  the  Pacific 
region. 

B.  —  BROAD-LEAVED   WOODS    (HARDWOODS) 

Woods  of  complex  and  very  variable  structure  and  therefore  differing 
widely  in  quality,  behavior,  and  consequently  in  applicability  to  the  arts. 

ASH.  —  Wood  heavy,  hard,  strong,  stiff,  quite  tough,  not  durable  in  con- 
tact with  soil,  straight  grained,  rough  on  the  split  surface,  and  coarse  in 
texture.  The  wood  shrinks  moderately,  seasons  with  little  injury,  and 
stands  well.  In  carpentry  ash  is  used  for  finishing  lumber,  stairways, 
panels,  etc. ;  it  is  used  in  shipbuilding,  in  the  construction  of  cars, 
wagons,  carriages,  etc.,  in  the  manufacture  of  farm  implements, 
machinery,  and  especially  of  furniture  of  all  kinds,  and  also  for  har- 
ness work ;  for  barrels,  baskets,  oars,  tool  handles,  hoops,  clothespins, 
and  toys.  The  trees  of  the  several  species  of  ash  are  rapid  growers,  of 
small  to  medium  height,  with  stout  trunks ;  they  form  no  forests,  but 
occur  scattered  in  almost  all  our  broad -leaved  forests. 
1.  WHITE  ASH  (Fraxinus  americana)  :  Medium-,  sometimes  large-sized 
tree.  Basin  of  the  Ohio,  but  found  from  Maine  to  Minnesota  and 
Texas. 


APPENDIX  III  269 

2.  RED  ASH  (Fraxinus  pennsylvanica}  :  Small -sized  tree.     North  Atlantic 

States,  but  extends  to  the  Mississippi. 

3.  BLACK  ASH  (Fraxinus  nigra)  (hoop  ash,  ground  ash)  :  Medium-sized 

tree,  very  common.  Maine  to  Minnesota,  and  southward  to 
Virginia  and  Arkansas. 

4.  BLUE    ASH     (Fraxinus    quadrangulata} :     Small-    to    medium-sized. 

Indiana  and  Illinois ;  occurs  from  Michigan  to  Minnesota  and 
southward  to  Alabama. 

5.  GREEN  ASH  (Fraxinus  lanceolata)  :  Small -sized  tree.     New  York  to 

the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  southward  to  Florida  and  Arizona. 

6.  OREGON   ASH    (Fraxinus   oregana) :  Medium-sized   tree.      Western 

Washington  to  California. 
ASPEN.     (See  POPLAR.) 
BASSWOOD. 

1.  BASSWOOD  (Tilia  americana)  (lime  tree,  American  linden,  lin,  bee 

tree) :  Wood  light,  soft,  stiff  but  not  strong,  of  fine  texture,  and 
white  to  light  brown  color.  The  wood  shrinks  considerably  in 
drying,  works  and  stands  well;  it  is  used  in  carpentry,  in  the 
manufacture  of  furniture  and  wooden  ware,  both  turned  and  carved, 
in  cooperage,  for  toys,  also  for  paneling  of  car  and  carriage  bodies. 
Medium-  to  large-sized  tree,  common  in  all  northern  broad-leaved 
forests ;  found  throughout  the  eastern  United  States. 

2.  WHITE    BASSWOOD    (Tilia  heterophylla)  :   A    small-sized  tree,   most 

abundant  in  the  Allegheny  region. 
BEECH. 

BEECH  (Fagus  americana)  :  Wood  heavy,  hard,  stiff,  strong,  of  rather 
coarse  texture,  white  to  light  brown,  not  durable  in  the  ground, 
and  subject  to  the  inroads  of  boring  insects  ;  it  shrinks  and  checks 
considerably  in  drying,  works  well  and  wears  smooth.  Used  for 
furniture,  in  turnery,  for  handles,  plane  stocks,  lasts,  etc.  Abroad 
it  is  very  extensively  employed  by  the  carpenter,  millwright,  and 
wagon  maker,  in  turnery  as  well  as  wood  carving.  The  beech  is 
a  medium-sized  tree,  common,  sometimes  forming  forest ;  most  * 
abundant  in  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  basin,  but  found  from 
Maine  to  Wisconsin  and  southward  to  Florida. 


270  FIKST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

BIRCH.  —  Wood  heavy,  hard,  strong,  of  fine  texture;  sapwood  whitish, 
heartwood  in  shades  of  brown  with  red  and  yellow ;  very  handsome, 
with  satiny  luster,  equaling  cherry.  The  wood  shrinks  considerably  in 
drying,  works  and  stands  well,  and  takes  a  good  polish,  but  is  not 
durable  if  exposed.  Birch  is  used  for  finishing  lumber  in  building, 
in  the  manufacture  of  furniture,  in  wood  turnery  for  spools,  boxes, 
wooden  shoes,  etc.,  for  shoe  lasts  and  pegs,  for  wagon  hubs,  ox  yokes, 
etc.,  also  in  wood  carving.  The  birches  are  medium-sized  trees,  form 
extensive  forests  northward,  and  occur  scattered  in  most  of  the  broad- 
leaved  forests  of  the  eastern  United  States. 

1.  CHERRY  BIRCH  (Betula  lento)  (black  birch,  sweet  birch,  mahogany 

birch)  :  Medium-sized  tree ;  not  common.  Maine  to  Michigan 
and  to  Tennessee. 

2.  YELLOW  BIRCH   (Betula  luted)    (gray  birch)  :    Medium-sized    tree ; 

the  common  birch  of  the  market.  Maine  to  Minnesota  and  south- 
ward to  Tennessee. 

3.  RED  BIRCH  (Betula  nigrd)  (river  birch)  :  Small-  to  medium-sized 

tree ;  very  common  ;  lighter  and  less  valuable  than  the  preceding. 
New  England  to  Texas  and  Missouri. 

4.  WHITE  or  PAPER  BIRCH  (Betula  papyri/era] :  Generally  a  small  tree ; 

common,  forming  forests ;  wood  of  good  quality  but  lighter.  All 
along  the  northern  boundary  of  United  States  and  northward,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

BLACK   WALNUT.     (See  WALNUT.) 

BLUE    BEECH. 

BLUE  BEECH  (Carpinm  caroliniand)  (hornbeam,  water  beech,  iron- 
wood)  :  Wood  very  heavy,  hard,  strong,  very  stiff,  of  rather  fine 
texture  and  white  color ;  not  durable  in  the  ground ;  shrinks  and 
checks  greatly,  but  works  and  stands  well.  Used  chiefly  in 
turnery  for  tool  handles,  etc.  Abroad  much  used  by  millwrights 
and  wheelwrights.  A  small  tree,  largest  in  the  Southwest,  but 
found  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  eastern  United  States. 

BOIS    D'ARC.     (See  OSAGE  ORANGE.) 

BUCKEYE  —  HORSE-CHESTNUT.  —  Wood  light,  soft,  not  strong,  often 
quite  tough,  of  fine  and  uniform  texture  and  creamy  white  color.  It 


APPENDIX  III  271 

shrinks  considerably,  but  works  and  stands  well.  Used  for  wooden  ware, 
artificial  limbs,  paper  pulp,  and  locally  also  for  building  lumber.  Small- 
sized  trees,  scattered. 

1.  OHIO  BUCKEYE    (jEsculus    (jiabrd)    (fetid    buckeye)  :     Alleghenies, 

Pennsylvania  to  Indian  Territory. 

2.  SWEET  BUCKEYE  (dEsculus  octandra)  :  Alleghenies,  Pennsylvania  to 

Texas. 

BUTTERNUT. 

BUTTERNUT  (Juglans  cinerea)  (white  walnut) :  Wood  very  similar  to 
black  walnut,  but  of  light  brown  color.  Used  chiefly  for  finishing 
lumber,  cabinetwork,  and  cooperage.  Medium-sized  tree,  largest 
and  most  common  in  the  Ohio  basin;  Maine  to  Minnesota  and 
southward  to  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

CATALPA.      ' 

CATALPA  (Catalpa  speciosa)'.  Wood  light,  soft,  not  strong,  brittle, 
durable,  of  coarse  texture  and  brown  color ;  used  for  ties  and 
posts,  but  well  suited  for  a  great  variety  of  uses.  Medium-sized 
tree ;  lower  basin  of  the  Ohio  River,  locally  common.  Extensively 
planted,  and  therefore  promising  to  become  of  some  importance. 

CHERRY. 

CHERRY  (Prunus  serotincC)  :  Wood  heavy,  hard,  strong,  of  fine  texture : 
sapwood  yellowish  white,  heartwood  reddish  to  brown.  The  wood 
shrinks  considerably  in  drying,  works  and  stands  well,  takes  a 
good  polish,  and  is  much  esteemed  for  its  beauty.  Cherry  is 
chiefly  used  as  a  decorative  finishing  lumber  for  buildings,  cars, 
and  boats,  also  for  furniture  and  in  turnery.  It  is  becoming  too 
costly  for  many  purposes  for  which  it  is  naturally  well  suited. 
The  lumber-furnishing  cherry  of  this  country,  the  wild  black 
cherry  (Prunus  serotina),  is  a  small-  to  medium-sized  tree,  scattered 
through  many  of  the  broad-leaved  woods  of  the  eastern  United 
States.  Other  species  of  this  genus  as  well  as  the  hawthorns 
(Cratsegus)  and  wild  apple  (Pyrus)  are  not  commonly  offered  in 
the  market.  Their  wood  is  of  the  same  character  as  cherry,  often 
even  finer,  but  in  small  dimensions. 


272  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

CHESTNUT. 

1.  CHESTNUT   (Castanea  dentata)  :  Wood  light,  moderately  soft,  stiff, 

not  strong,  of  coarse  texture  ;  the  sapwood  light,  the  heartwood 
darker  brown.  It  shrinks  and  checks  considerably  in  drying,  works 
easily,  stands  well,  and  is  very  durable.  Used  in  cabinetwork, 
cooperage,  for  railway  ties,  telegraph  poles,  and  locally  in  heavy 
construction.  Medium-  to  large-sized  tree,  very  common  in  the 
Alleghenies,  occurs  from  Maine  to  Michigan  and  southward  to 
Alabama. 

2.  CHINQUAPIN    (Castanea  pumila) :    A    small-sized   tree,  with    wood 

slightly  heavier  but  otherwise  similar  to  the  preceding;  most 
common  in  Arkansas,  but  with  nearly  the  same  range  as  the 
chestnut. 

3.  CHINQUAPIN  (Castanopsis  chrysophyllcf)  :  A  medium-sized  tree  of  the 

western  ranges  of  California  and  Oregon. 

COFFEE    TREE. 

COFFEE  TREE  (Gymnocladus  dioica)  (coffee  nut)  :  Wood  heavy,  hard, 
strong,  very  stiff,  of  coarse  texture,  durable  ;  the  sapwood  yellow, 
the  heartwood  reddish  brown  ;  shrinks  and  checks  considerably  in 
drying;  works  and  stands  well  and  takes  a  good  polish.  It  is 
used  to  a  limited  extent  in  cabinetwork.  A  medium-  to  large- 
sized  tree  ;  not  common.  Pennsylvania  to  Minnesota  and  Arkansas. 

COTTONWOOD.      (See  POPLAR.) 

CUCUMBER    TREE.     (See  TULIP.) 

ELM.  —  Wood  heavy,  hard,  strong,  very  tough;  moderately  durable  in 
contact  with  the  soil ;  commonly  crossgrained,  difficult  to  split  and 
shape,  warps  and  checks  considerably  in  drying,  but  stands  well  if 
properly  handled.  The  broad  sapwood  whitish,  heart  brown,  both 
with  shades  of  gray  and  red ;  on  split  surface  rough  ;  texture  coarse 
to  fine;  capable  of  high  polish.  Used  in  the  construction  of  cars, 
wagons,  etc.,  in  boat  and  ship  building,  for  agricultural  implements  and 
machinery;  in  rough  cooperage,  saddlery  and  harness  work,  but  par- 
ticularly in  the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  of  furniture,  where  the 
beautiful  figures,  especially  those  of  the  tangential  or  bastard  section, 
are  just  beginning  to  be  duly  appreciated.  The  elms  are  medium-  to 


APPENDIX  III  273 

large-sized  trees,  of  fairly  rapid  growth,  with  stout  trunk,  form  no 
forests  of  pure  growth,  but  are  found  scattered  in  all  the  broad-leaved 
woods  of  our  country,  sometimes  forming  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
arboreal  growth. 

1.  WHITE  ELM  (Ulmus  americana)  (American  elm,  waterelm)  :  Medium- 

to  large-sized  tree,  common.  Maine  to  Minnesota  and  southward 
to  Florida  and  Texas. 

2.  ROCK  ELM  (Ulmus  racemose?)  (cork  elm,  hickory  elm,  white  elm,  cliff 

elm)  :  Medium-  to  large-sized  tree.  Michigan,  Ohio,  from  Ver- 
mont to  Iowa  and  southward  to  Kentucky. 

3.  RED  ELM  (Ulmus  fulva)  (slippery  elm,  moose  elm)  :  Small -sized  tree, 

found  chiefly  along  water  courses.  New  York  to  Minnesota  and 
southward  to  Florida  and  Texas. 

4.  CEDAR  ELM   (Ulmus  crassifolia) :   Small-sized    tree,  quite    common. 

Arkansas  and  Texas. 

5.  WINGED  ELM  (Ulmus  alata)  (wahoo)  :  Small-sized  tree,  locally  quite 

common.     Arkansas,  Missouri,  and  eastward  to  Virginia. 
GUM.  —  This  general  term  refers  to  two  kinds  of  wood  usually  distinguished 
as  sweet  or  red  gum,  and  sour,  black,  or  tupelo  gum,  the  former  being 
a  relative  of  the  witch-hazel,  the  latter  belonging  to  the   dogwood 
family. 

1.  TUPELO  (Nyssa  sylvatica}  (sour  gum,  black  gum)  :  Wood  heavy,  hard, 

strong,  tough,  of  fine  texture,  frequently  crossgrained,  of  yellowish 
or  grayish  white  color,  hard  to  split  and  work,  troublesome  in 
seasoning,  warps  and  checks  considerably,  and  is  not  durable  if 
exposed ;  used  for  wagon  hubs,  wooden  ware,  handles,  wooden 
shoes,  etc.  Medium-  to  large-sized  trees,  with  straight,  clear 
trunks ;  locally  quite  abundant,  but  never  forming  forests  of  pure 
growth.  Maine  to  Michigan  and  southward  to  Florida  and 
Texas. 

2.  TUPELO  GUM    (Nyssa  aquatica)    (cotton  gum)  :  Lower  Mississippi 

basin,  northward  to  Illinois  and  eastward  to  Virginia,  otherwise 
like  preceding  species. 

3.  SWEET  GUM  (Liquidambar  styraciflua)  (red gum,  liquidambar,  bilsted) : 

Wood  of  medium  weight,  rather  soft,  quite  stiff  and  strong,  tough, 


274  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

commonly  crossgrained,  of  fine  texture  ;  the  broad  sapwood  whitish, 
the  heart  wood  reddish  brown ;  the  wood  shrinks  and  warps  con- 
siderably, but  does  not  check  badly,  stands  well  when  fully  seasoned, 
and  takes  good  polish.  Used  in  carpentry,  in  the  manufacture  of 
furniture,  for  cut  veneer,  for  wooden  plates,  plaques,  baskets,  etc., 
also  for  wagon  hubs,  hat  blocks,  etc.  A  large-sized  tree,  very 
abundant,  often  the  principal  tree  in  the  swampy  parts  of  the 
bottoms  of  the  lower  Mississippi  valley;  occurs  from  New  York 
to  Texas  and  from  Indiana  to  Florida. 

HACKBERRY. 

HACKBERRY  (Celtis  occidentalism  (sugar  berry)  :  The  handsome  wood 
heavy,  hard,  strong,  quite  tough,  of  moderately  fine  texture,  and 
greenish  or  yellowish  white  color  ;  shrinks  moderately,  works  well, 
and  takes  a  good  polish.  So  far  but  little  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  furniture.  Medium-  to  large-sized  tree,  locally  quite  common, 
largest  in  the  lower  Mississippi  valley.  Occurs  in  nearly  all  parts 
of  the  eastern  United  States. 

HICKORY.  —  Wood  very  heavy,  hard,  and  strong,  proverbially  tough,  of 
rather  coarse  texture,  smooth  and  of  straight  grain.  The  broad  sap- 
wood  white,  the  heart  reddish  nut-brown.  It  dries  slowly,  shrinks  and 
checks  considerably ;  is  not  durable  in  the  ground  or  if  exposed,  and, 
especially  the  sapwood,  is  always  subject  to  the  inroads  of  boring  insects. 
Hickory  excels  as  carriage  and  wagon  stock,  but  is  also  extensively  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  implements  and  machinery,  for  tool  handles, 
timber  pins,  for  harness  work,  and  cooperage.  The  hickories  are  tall 
trees  with  slender  stems,  never  form  forests,  occasionally  small  groves, 
but  usually  occur  scattered  among  other  broad-leaved  trees  in  suitable 
localities.  The  following  species  all  contribute  more  or  less  to  the 
hickory  of  the  markets : 

1.  SHAGBARK  HICKORY  (Hicoria  ovata)  (shellbark  hickory)  :  A  medium- 

to  large-sized  tree,  quite  common ;  the  favorite  among  hickories. 
Best  developed  in  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  basins;  from  Lake 
Ontario  to  Texas  and  west  to  Minnesota. 

2.  MOCKER  NUT  HICKORY  (Hicoria  alba)  (black  hickory,  bull  and  black 

nut,  big  bud,  and  white-heart  hickory)  :  A  medium-  to  large-sized 


APPENDIX   III  275 

tree,  with  the  same  range  as  the  foregoing ;  common,  especially  in 
the  South. 

3.  PIGNUT  HICKORY  (Hicoria  glabra)  (brown  hickory,  black   hickory, 

switch-bud  hickory)  :  Medium-  to  large-sized  tree,  abundant.  All 
eastern  United  States. 

4.  BITTER  NUT  HICKORY  (Hicoria  minima)  (swamp  hickory)  :  A  medium- 

sized  tree,  favoring  wet  localities,  with  the  same  range  as  the 
preceding. 

5.  PECAN  (Hicoria  pecan)  (Illinois  nut)  :   A  large  tree,  very  common 

in    the    fertile    bottoms    of    the    western    streams.       Indiana    to 
Nebraska  and  southward  to  Louisiana  and  Texas. 
HOLLY. 

HOLLY  (Ilex  opaca)  :  Wood  of  medium  weight,  hard,  strong,  tough,  of 
fine  texture  and  white  color ;  works  and  stands  well.  Used  for 
cabinetwork  and  turnery.  A  small  tree.  Most  abundant  in  the 
lower  Mississippi  valley  Gulf  States,  but  occurring  eastward  to 
Massachusetts  and  north  to  Indiana. 

HORSE-CHESTNUT.     (See  BUCKEYE.) 

IRONWOOD.      (See  BLUE  BEECH.) 

LOCUST.  —  This-  name  applies  to  both  of  the  following  : 

1.  BLACK  LOCUST   (Robinia  pseudacacia)   (yellow  locust)  :  Wood  very 

heavy,  hard,  strong,  and  tough,  of  coarse  texture,  very  durable  in 
contact  with  the  soil,  shrinks  considerably  and  suffers  in  season- 
ing;  the  very  narrow  sapwood  yellowish,  the  heartwood  brown, 
with  shades  of  red  and  green.  Used  for  wagon  hubs,  tree  nails 
or  pins,  but  especially  for  ties,  posts,  etc.  Abroad  it  is  much  used 
for  furniture  and  farm  implements  and  also  in  turnery.  Small- 
to  medium-sized  tree.  At  home  in  the  Alleghenies;  extensively 
planted,  especially  in  the  West. 

2.  HONEY  LOCUST  (Gleditachia  triacanthos)  (sweet  locust,  three-thorned 

acacia)  :  Wood  heavy,  hard,  strong,  tough,  of  coarse  texture,  sus- 
ceptible of  a  good  polish,  the  narrow  sapwood  yellow,  the  heart- 
wood  brownish  red.  So  far,  but  little  appreciated  except  for 
fencing  and  fuel ;  used  to  some  extent  for  wagon  hubs  and  in 


276  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

rough  construetion.  A  medium-sized  tree.  Found  from  Pennsyl- 
vania to  Nebraska  and  southward  to  Florida  and  Texas  ;  locally 
quite  abundant. 

MAGNOLIA.      (See  TULIP.) 

MAPLE.  —  Wood  heavy,  hard,  strong,  stiff,  and  tough,  of  fine  texture,  fre- 
quently wavy  grained,  this  giving  rise  to  "  curly  "  and  "  blister  "  figures ; 
not  durable  in  the  ground  or  otherwise  exposed.  Maple  is  creamy 
white,  with  shades  of  light  brown  in  the  heart ;  shrinks  moderately, 
seasons,  works  and  stands  well,  wears  smoothly,  and  takes  a  fine  polish. 
Used  for  ceiling,  flooring,  paneling,  stairway,  and  'other  finishing 
lumber  in  house,  ship,  and  car  construction ;  also  for  the  keels  of  boats 
and  ships,  in  the  manufacture  of  implements  and  machinery,  but  espe- 
cially for  furniture,  where  entire  chamber  sets  of  maple  rival  those  of 
oak.  Maple  is  also  used  for  shoe  lasts  and  other  form  blocks,  for  shoe 
pegs,  for  piano  actions,  school  apparatus,  for  wood  type  in  show-bill 
printing,  tool  handles,  in  wood  carving,  turnery,  and  scroll  work.  The 
maples  are  medium-sized  trees,  of  fairly  rapid  growth ;  sometimes  form 
forests  and  frequently  constitute  a  large  proportion  of  the  arboreal  growth. 

1.  SUGAR  MAPLE  (Acer  saccharum}  (hard  maple,  rock  maple):  Medium- 

to  large-sized  tree,  very  common,  forms  considerable  forests. 
Maine  to  Minnesota  and  southward  to  northern  Florida;  most 
abundant  in  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes. 

2.  RED  MAPLE  (Acer  rubruni)  (swamp  or  water  maple)  :  Medium-sized 

tree ;  like  the  preceding,  but  scattered  along  water  courses  and 
other  moist  localities. 

3.  SILVER    MAPLE    (Acer   saccharinuiri)    (soft   maple,    silver    maple) : 

Medium-sized,  common ;  wood  lighter,  softer,  inferior  to  hard 
maple.  Valley  of  the  Ohio,  but  occurs  from  Maine  to  Dakota 
and  southward  to  Florida. 

4.  BROAD-LEAVED  MAPLE    (Acer   macrophyllum) :   Medium-sized   tree, 

forms  considerable  forests,  and  like  the  preceding  has  a  lighter, 
softer,  and  less  valuable  wood.  Pacific  coast. 

MULBERRY. 

RED  MULBERRY  (Morus  rubra)  :  Wood  moderately  heavy,  hard,  strong, 
rather  tough,  of  coarse  texture,'  durable ;  sapwood  whitish,  heart 


APPENDIX  III  277 

yellow  to  orange  brown ;  shrinks  and  checks  considerably  in 
drying.  Used  in  cooperage  and  locally  in  shipbuilding  and  in 
the  manufacture  of  farm  implements.  A  small-sized  tree,  common 
in  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys,  but  widely  distributed  in  the 
eastern  United  States. 

OAK.  —  Wood  very  variable,  usually  very  heavy  arid  hard,  very  strong  and 
tough,  porous,  and  of  coarse  texture. ;  the  sapwood  whitish,  the  heart 
"  oak  "  brown  to  reddish  brown.  It  shrinks  and  checks  badly,  giving 
trouble  in  seasoning,  but  stands  well,  and  is  little  subject  to  attacks 
of  insects.  Used  for  many  purposes :  in  shipbuilding,  for  heavy 
construction,  in  common  carpentry,  in  furniture,  car,  and  wagon  work, 
cooperage,  turnery,  and  even  in  wood  carving ;  also  in  the  manufacture 
of  all  kinds  of  farm  implements,  wooden  mill  machinery,  for  piles  and 
wharves,  railway  ties,  etc.  The  oaks  are  medium-  to  large-sized  trees, 
forming  the  predominant  part  of  a  large  portion  of  our  broad-leaved 
forests,  so  that  these  are  generally  "  oak  forests,"  though  they  always 
contain  a*  considerable  proportion  of  other  kinds  of  trees.  The  wood 
of  three  well-marked  kinds,  white,  red,  and  live  oak,  are  distin- 
guished and  kept  separate  in  the  market.  Of  the  two  principal  kinds 
white  oak  is  the  stronger,  tougher,  less  porous,  and  more  durable. 
Red  oak  is  usually  of  coarser  texture,  more  porous,  often  brittle,  less 
durable,  and  even  more  troublesome  in  seasoning  than  white  oak.  In 
carpentry  and  furniture  work  red  oak  brings  about  the  same  price 
at  present  as  white  oak.  In  the  forest  the  red  oaks  everywhere 
accompany  the  white  oaks,  and,  like  the  latter,  are  usually  represented 
by  several  species  in  any  given  locality.  Live  oak,  once  largely 
employed  in  shipbuilding,  possesses  all  the  good  qualities  (except  that 
of  size)  of  white  oak,  even  to  a  greater  degree.  It  is  one  of  the 
heaviest,  hardest,  and  most  durable  building  timbers  of  this  country; 
in  structure  it  resembles  the  red  oaks,  but  is  much  less  porous. 

1.  WHITE  OAK  (Quercus  alba):  Medium-  to  large-sized  tree.    Common 

throughout  the  eastern  United  States. 

2.  BUR  OAK    (Quercus  macrocarpa)    (mossy-cup    oak,  over-cup    oak)  : 

Locally  abundant,  common.  Bottoms  west  of  Mississippi ;  range 
farther  west  than  preceding. 


278  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

3.  SWAMP  WHITE  OAK  (Quercus  platanoides)  :    Most  abundant  in  the 

Lake  States,  but  with  range  as  in  white  oak. 

4.  YELLOW  OAK  (Quercus  prinoides)  (chestnut  oak,  chinquapin  oak)  : 

Southern  Alleghenies  and  eastward  to  Massachusetts. 

5.  BASKET    OAK   (Quercus   michauxii)    (cow  oak):    Locally  abundant. 

Lower  Mississippi  and  eastward  to  Delaware. 

6.  OVER-CUP  OAK  (Quercus  lyratd)   (swamp   white    oak,  swamp   post 

oak)  :  Rather  restricted ;  ranges  as  in  the  preceding. 

7.  POST  OAK  (Quercus  minor')  (iron  oak)  :  Texas  to  New  England  and 

northward  to  Michigan. 

8.  WHITE    OAK    (Quercus    durandii) :    Medium-   to    small-sized   tree. 

Texas,  eastward  to  Alabama. 

9.  WHITE  OAK  (Quercus  garryana)  :  Medium-sized  tree.     Washington 

to  California. 

10.  WHITE  OAK  (Quercus  lobata)  :   Medium-sized  tree ;  largest  oak  on 

the  Pacific  coast.     California. 

11.  RED  OAK  (Quercus  rubra)  (black  oak)  :  Medium-  to  large-sized  tree ; 

common  in  all  parts  of  its  range.     Maine  to  Minnesota  and  south- 
ward to  the  Gulf. 

12.  BLACK  OAK  (Quercus  velutina)  (yellow  oak)  :  Very  common  in  the 

Southern    States,  but  occurring  north  as  far  as  Minnesota  and 
eastward  to  Maine. 

13.  SPANISH  OAK  (Quercus  digitata)  (red  oak)  :  Common  in  the  South 

Atlantic  and  Gulf  region,  but  found  from  Texas  to  New  York 
and  northward  to  Missouri  and  Kentucky. 

14.  SCARLET    OAK    (Quercus   coccined):    Best    developed  in  the   lower 

basin  of  the  Ohio,  but  found  from  Maine  to  Missouri,  and  from 
Minnesota  to  Florida. 

15.  PIN   OAK    (Quercus  palustris)    (swamp   Spanish   oak,   water   oak) : 

Common  along  borders  of   streams   and    swamps.     Arkansas   to 
Wisconsin  and  eastward  to  the  Alleghenies. 

16.  WILLOW  OAK  (Quercus  phellos)   (peach  oak):  New  York  to  Texas 

and  northward  to  Kentucky. 

17.  WATER  OAK  (Quercus  nigra)  (duck  oak,  possum  oak,  punk  oak)  : 

Medium-  to  large-sized  tree,  of  extremely  rapid  growth.     Eastern 


APPENDIX  III  279 

Gulf  States,  eastward  to  Delaware,  and  northward  to  Missouri 
and  Kentucky. 

18.  LIVE  OAK  (Quercus  virginiana):  Short- but  heavy-bodied  tree,  scat- 

tered along  the  coast  from  Virginia  to  Texas. 

19.  LIVE  OAK  (Quercus  chrysolepis)  (maul  oak,  Valparaiso  oak)  :  Medium- 

sized  tree.     California. 

OSAGE  ORANGE. 

OSAGE  ORANGE  (Toxylon  pomiferuni)  (bois  d'arc)  :  Wood  very  heavy, 
exceedingly  hard,  strong,  not  tough,  of  moderately  coarse  texture, 
and  very  durable ;  sapwood  yellow,  heart  brown  on  the  end,  yellow 
on  longitudinal  faces,  soon  turning  grayish  brown  if  exposed ;  it 
shrinks  considerably  in  drying,  but  once  dry  it  stands  unusually 
well.  Formerly  much  used  for  wheel  stock  in  the  dry  regions  of 
Texas ;  otherwise  employed  for  posts,  railway  ties,  etc.  Seems  too 
little  appreciated ;  it  is  well  suited  for  turned  ware  and  especially 
for  wood  carving.  A  small-sized  tree,  of  fairly  rapid  growth. 
Scattered  through  the  rich  bottoms  of  Arkansas  and  Texas. 

PERSIMMON. 

PERSIMMON  (Diospyros  virginiana)  :  Wood  very  heavy  and  hard,  strong 
and  tough ;  resembles  hickory,  but  is  of  finer  texture  ;  the  broad 
sapwood  cream  color,  the  heart  black.  Used  in  turnery  for  shut- 
tles, plane  stocks,  shoe  lasts,  etc.  Small-sized  tree.  Common 
and  best  developed  in  the  lower  Ohio  valley,  but  occurs  from  New 
York  to  Texas  and  Missouri. 

POPLAR  and  COTTONWOOD  (see  also  TULIP  WOOD).  —  Wood  light,  very 
soft,  not  strong,  of  fine  texture  and  whitish,  grayish  to  yellowish  color, 
usually  with  a  satiny  luster.  The  wood  shrinks  moderately  (some 
crossgrained  forms  warp  excessively),  but  checks  little  ;  is  easily  worked, 
but  is  not  durable.  Used  as  building  and  furniture  lumber,  in  cooper- 
age for  sugar  and  flour  barrels,  for  crates  and  boxes  (especially  cracker 
boxes),  for  wooden  ware  and  paper  pulp. 

1.  COTTONWOOD  (Populus  deltoides)  :  Large-sized  tree  ;  forms  consider- 
able forests  along  many  of  the  western  streams,  and  furnishes  most 
of  the  cottonwood  of  the  market.  New  England  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains;  most  abundant  in  the  Mississippi  valley. 


280  FIRST   BOOK   OF   FORESTRY 

2.  BALSAM  POPLAR  (Populus  bahamifera)  (balm  of  Gilead)  :  Medium- 

to  large-sized  tree.  Common  all  along  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  United  States. 

3.  BLACK  COTTONWOOD  (Populus  trichocarpa)  :  The  largest  deciduous 

tree  of  Washington ;  very  common.  Northern  Rocky  Mountains 
and  Pacific  region. 

4.  COTTONWOOD  (Populus  fremontii  var.  wislizeni)  :  Medium-  to  large- 

sized  tree,  common.     Texas  to  California. 

5.  POPLAR   (Populus  grandidentata)    (large-toothed    aspen):    Medium- 

sized  tree,  chiefly  used  for  pulp.  Maine  to  Minnesota  and  south- 
ward along  the  Alleghenies. 

6.  ASPEN  (Populus  tremuloides) :  Small-  to  medium-sized  tree,  often  form- 

ing extensive  forests  and  covering  burned  areas.  Maine  to  Washing- 
ton, south  in  the  western  mountains  to  California  and  New  Mexico. 

RED  GUM.  (See  GUM.) 

SASSAFRAS. 

SASSAFRAS  (Sassafras  sassafras)  :  Wood  light,  soft,  not  strong,  brittle, 
of  coarse  texture,  durable;  sapwood  yellow,  heart  orange  brown. 
Used  in  cooperage,  for  skiffs,  fencing,  etc.  Mediu  in -sized  tree, 
largest  in  the  lower  Mississippi  valley.  From  New  England  to 
Texas  and  from  Michigan  to  Florida. 

SOUR  GUM.     (See  GUM.) 
SWEET  GUM.     (See  GUM.) 
SYCAMORE. 

1.  SYCAMORE  (Platanus  occid entails')  (buttonwood,  buttonball  tree,  water 

beech)  :  Wood  moderately  heavy,  quite  hard,  stiff,  strong,  tough, 
usually  crossgrained,  of  coarse  texture,  and  white  to  light  brown 
color;  the  wood  is  hard  to  split  and  work,  shrinks  moderately, 
warps  and  checks  considerably,  but  stands  well.  Used  extensively 
for  drawers,  backs,  bottoms,  etc.,  in  cabinetwork,  for  tobacco  boxes, 
in  cooperage,  and  also  for  finishing  lumber,  for  which  it  has  too 
long  been  underrated.  A  large  tree,  of  rapid  growth.  Common 
and  largest  in  Jie  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys,  at  home  in  nearly 
all  parts  of  the  eastern  United  States.  (The  California  species). 

2.  Platanus  racemosa,  resembles  in  its  wood  the  eastern  form. 


APPENDIX  III  281 

TULIP  WOOD. 

1.  TULIP  TREE  (Liriodendron  tulipifera)  (yellow  poplar,  whitewood)  : 

Wood  quite  variable  in  weight,  usually  light,  soft,  stiff  but  not 
strong,  of  fine  texture,  and  yellowish  color;  the  wood  shrinks 
considerably,  but  seasons  without  much  injury;  works  and  stands 
remarkably  well.  Used  for  siding,  for  paneling  and  finishing 
lumber  in  house,  car,  and  ship  building,  for  sideboards  and  panels 
of  wagons  and  carriages ;  also  in  the  manufacture  of  furniture, 
implements,  and  machinery,  for  pump  logs,  and  almost  every 
kind  of  common  wooden  ware,  boxes,  shelving,  drawers,  etc.  An 
ideal  wood  for  the  carver  and  toy  man.  A  large  tree,  forming 
forests,  best  developed  in  the  Ohio  basin.  Occurs  from  New 
England  to  Missouri  and  southward  to  Florida. 

2.  CUCUMBER  TREE  (Magnolia  acuminata)  :  A  medium-sized  tree  resem- 

bling, and  probably  confounded  with,  tulip  wood  in  the  markets. 
Most  common  in  the  southern  Alleghenies,  but  distributed  from 
New  York  to  Arkansas,  southward  to  Alabama  and  northward  to 
Illinois. 

TUPELO.     (Sec  GUM.) 

WALNUT. 

BLACK  WALNUT  (Juglans  nigra)  :  Wood  heavy,  hard,  strong,  of  coarse 
texture ;  the  narrow  sapwood  whitish,  the  heartwood  chocolate 
brown.  The  wood  shrinks  moderately  in  drying,  works  and 
stands  well,  takes  a  good  polish,  is  quite  handsome,  and  has 
been  for  a  long  time  the  favorite  cabinet  wrood  in  this  country. 
Walnut,  formerly  used  even  for  fencing,  has  become  too  costly  for 
ordinary  uses,  and  is  to-day  employed  largely  as  a  veneer,  for 
inside  finish  and  cabinetwork;  also  in  turnery,  for  gunstocks, 
etc.  Black  walnut  is  a  large  tree,  with  stout  trunk,  of  rapid 
growth,  and  was  formerly  quite  abundant,  especially  in  the  Ohio 
valley.  Occurs  from  New  England  to  Texas  and  from  Michigan 
to  Florida. 

WHITE   WALNUT.     (See  BUTTERNUT.) 
WHITEWOOD.     (See  TULIP,  and  also  BASSWOOD.) 
YELLOW   POPLAR.     (See  TULIP.) 


INDEX 


Acid,  wood,  142  ;  factory,  142. 

Age  of  trees  and  how  to  read  it,  8. 

Animals,  protection  against  larger 
ones,  130;  grazing  animals,  131, 
178;  game  animals,  180;  see 
'Insects,  115. 

Annual  or  yearly  rings  in  wood,  217. 

Artificial  method  of  starting  a  young 
growth  by  seeding  and  planting, 
76 ;  use  of  this  method  in  our  coun- 
try, 76;  in  Europe,  76;  advantages 
of  method,  77 ;  nursery  work, 
78;  gathering  and  care  of  seed, 
79  ;  seedlings,  85  ;  planting,  87  ; 
artificial  sowing  of  tree  seeds  in 
the  woods,  90  ;  starting  of  willow's, 
poplars  (cottonwoods,  etc.),  from 
cuttings,  92 ;  where  planting 
should  be  done,  92 ;  method  criti- 
cised, 93  ;  objections,  93  ;  where 
it  pays  and  how  it  pays,  94. 

Ash,,  how  to  distinguish,  256  ;  the 
wood,  different  kinds  and  where 
they  grow,  268. 

Aspen,  see  Poplar,  246,  279. 

Balsam,  how  to  distinguish  the  trees, 
244  ;  the  wood,  263  ;  distribution, 
263  ;  different  kinds,  263. 


Bark  beetles,  120. 

Basswood,  how  to  distinguish,  246  ; 
the  wood,  different  kinds  and 
where  they  occur,  269. 

Beech,  how  to  distinguish,  246 ;  its 
wrood  and  its  uses,  269. 

Birch,  how  to  distinguish  the  tree, 
246  ;  the  wood,  the  different  kinds 
'and  their  distribution,  270. 

Bird's-eye  structure  in  wood,  226. 

Black  walnut,  see  Walnut,  254,281. 

Blazes  on  trees,  how  they  heal  and 
what  they  tell,  10. 

Blue  beech,  270. 

Bois  d'arc,  see  Osage  orange,  279. 

Border  of  the  woods,  1. 

Broad-leaved  trees,  see  Hardwoods, 
246. 

Buckeye,  in  the  Key  to  different 
kinds,  256  ;  its  wood  and  occur- 
rence, 270. 

Burn,  a  tract  of  burned-over  forest 
land,  see  Fire,  104. 

Business  of  the  forest,  182 ;  simple  for 
small  wood  lot,  increases  in  com- 
plexity with  size,  183;  requires 
survey,  mapping,  description  ;  this 
leads  to  forest  management;  the 
employment  of  men  leads  to  forest 


283 


284 


FIRST  BOOK  OF  FORESTRY 


administration,  183;  an  orderly 
business  requires  forest  regula- 
tion, 184. 

Butternut,  in  Key,  254 ;  in  list  of 
woods,  271. 

Canopy  of  the  woods,  1. 

Care  and  protection  of  the  forest, 
97 ;  need  for  this  care,  97  ;  thin- 
ning and  cleaning,  98 ;  see  Pro- 
tection, 104. 

Catalpa,  in  Key,  254 ;  in  list  of 
woods  and  trees,  271. 

Caterpillars,  see  Insects,  115. 

Cedar,  how  to  distinguish,  244 ; 
wood  of,  261 ;  different  kinds  in 
United  States,  261. 

Cellulose,  see  Pulp,  142. 

Cherry,  in  Key  to  trees,  248  ;  in  list 
of  woods,  271. 

Chestnut,  how  to  distinguish,  246  ; 
the  wood,  different  kinds  and 
where  they  grow,  272. 

Circles,  table  of,  260. 

Cleaning  of  trees;  how  trees  clean 
themselves  of  limbs,  16.;  shade 
required;  helped  by  crowding; 
usefulness  of  cleaning,  17. 

Climate,  as  modified  by  forest,  207  ; 
as  modifying  the  trees  and  for- 
ests, see  Temperature,  32 ;  and 
moisture,  24. 

Coffee  tree,  272. 

Cold,  see  Temperature,  32. 

Conifers,  growth  in  height  (leaders), 
17;  are  frugal,  20;  in  swamps, 
28  ;  in  cold  regions,  34  ;  cover  the 


mountains,  38 ;  not  suited  to 
coppice,  48 ;  yield  more  log  mate- 
rial than  hardwoods,  64,  171; 
yield  in  cords  per  acre,  74  ;  conif- 
erous seeds,  80 ;  sowing  in  seed 
bed,  82  ;  seedlings,  their  growth, 
85;  number  of  trees  per  acre  in 
well-stocked  woods,  102 ;  more 
prone  to  fire,  104;  logging  of 
conifers,  see  Lumbering  and  Uses 
of  wood;  coniferous  lumber,  150; 
for  prairie  planting,  195 ;  our 
coniferous  forests,  210;  how  to 
distinguish,  240 ;  wood  and  its 
uses,  different  kinds  and  their 
distributions,  261. 

Contents  of  trees  (in  lumbering), 
165. 

Cooperage  stock,  kinds  of  timber 
used,  how  gotten  out,  149. 

Coppice  woods,  45 ;  what  trees  are 
suited,  46 ;  yield  of  woods,  46 ; 
poor  stumps,  47 ;  how  to  cut  the 
stumps  in  coppice,  47 ;  tan-bark 
coppice,  50  ;  rotation  in  coppice, 
50  ;  standard  coppice,  52. 

Cord  as  legal  measure,  136. 

Cord  wood,  see  Firewood,  136. 

Creosote  from  wood,  144. 

Crowding,  helps  to  clean  trees  of 
limbs,  16. 

Cruising,  in  timber,  165. 

Curly  structure  in  wood,  226. 

Cuttings  of  willow  and  poplar,  79. 

Cypress,  29  ;  knees,  31 ;  how  to  dis- 
tinguish, 244  ;  its  wood  and  where 
it  grows,  263. 


INDEX 


285 


Diffuse-porous  woods,  222. 

Dominant  trees,  2. 

Doyle  rule  (scale  rule),  173  ;  table 

of,  259. 
Durability  of  woods,  230. 

Elm,  how  to  distinguish,  246  ;  the 
wood,  the  different  kinds  and 
their  distribution,  272. 

Erosion  or  washing  of  the  earth  and 
how  it  is  modified  by  the  vegeta- 
ble cover,  203. 

Estimating  and  measuring  timber, 
164;  cruising,  165;  contents  of 
trees,  165 ;  covering  the  entire 
forty,  167 ;  calculations  of  vol- 
ume, 168;  arrangement  of  note- 
book, 169 ;  factor  of  shape  (or 
taper),  170. 

Export  timber,  147. 

Fir,  red  fir,  how  to  distinguish, 
244;  its  wood,  267  ;  white  fir  or 
balsam,  see  Balsam,  244,  263. 

Fire  in  forests,  the  greatest  enemy, 
104 ;  large  fires  in  our  times  and 
country,  105 ;  behavior  of  fires, 

.  106  ;  degree  of  destruction,  106  ; 
how  it  starts,  108  ;  a  proper  camp 
fire,  108  ;  how  to  fight  fires,  108  ; 
trenching  and  back  fires,  110 ; 
fire  lines,  110. 

Firewood,  136;  measure,  136; 
weight,  138. 

Forest,  as  a  protective  cover,  203 ; 
how  the  water  acts,  how  it  is 
stored  in  the  earth,  and  how  it 


washes  the  layer  in  which  it 
should  be  stored,  203 ;  run-off  on 
surface  and  underground,  204 ; 
how  the  forest  modifies  erosion, 
206 ;  effect  on  climate,  207  ; 
experience  abroad  and  in  our 
country,  208  ;  weeds  and  how  they 
are  killed,  4  ;  reserves,  213. 

Forestry,  general,  41 ;  what  it  is, 
41-45. 

Forests  of  our  country,  209  ;  general 
description  and  division,  209  ; 
our  hardwood  forests,  212 ;  our 
eastern  belts  of  conifers,  212  ; 
amounts  still  left,  213  ;  ownership 
of  our  forests,  213  ;  forest  reserves, 
213 ;  state  reserves  and  parks, 
214. 

Frost,  injures  trees ;  protection 
against,  112. 

Fungi,  their  usefulness  in  the  woods 
and  their  destructiveness,  12 ; 
how  the  fungus  acts,  230. 

Game  and  fish,  180  ;  benefit  from, 

number    should    be    controlled ; 

feed   for    game,    care    of    game, 

180. 

German  forests  and  forestry,  216. 
Grain  in  wood,  224. 
Grazing  in  woods,  131,  178. 
Growth  of  trees,  in  height -as  seen 

from  leaders,  18  ;  of  seedlings  and 

sprouts,  17. 
Gum,  how  to  distinguish,  250  ;  the 

wood  and  its  uses ;  different  kinds 

and  their  distribution,  273. 


286 


FIRST  BOOK  OF  FORESTRY 


Hackberry,  274. 

Hardwoods,  in  ordinary  wildwoods, 
1 ;  require  a  loam  or  clay  soil,  18 ; 
require  a  milder  climate,  35 ;  do 
not  endure  high  altitudes,  38 ;  in 
coppice,  46  ;  in  timber  forest,  53  ; 
yield  less  log  material  than  coni- 
fers, 64;  seeds,  79;  in  nursery,  80; 
seedlings,  85 ;  sowing  in  forest, 
92;  more  resistant  to  fire,  112; 
hardwood  lumber,  158;  hardwood 
forests  of  the  United  States,  210 ; 
how  to  distinguish  different 
kinds,  246 ;  the  wood  and  its 
use,  the  different  kinds  and  their 
distribution,  268. 

Heartwood,  see  Wood,  217. 

Heat  and  cold,  see  Temperature,  32. 

Hemlock,  how  to  distinguish  the 
tree,  242  ;  its  wood,  the  different 
kinds  and  their  distribution,  263. 

Hickory,  how  to  distinguish,  254; 
the  wood,  different  kinds  and 
where  found,  274. 

History,  a  few  notes  on  the  history 
of  forestry,  214 ;  ancients  appre- 
ciated forests,  214  ;  old  forests  in 
Switzerland,  21 5 ;  bad  effects  of 
deforestation  in  France,  216  ;  Teu- 
tonic nations  early  lovers  of  the 
forests,  forests  of  Germany,  216. 

Holly,  275. 

Ice,  injurious  to  trees,  protection 
against,  112. 

Insects,  injurious  and  helpful  to  for- 
est, 115  ;  damage  in  the  past,  116  ; 


how  they  accomplish  great  dam- 
age, 117  ;  different  kinds  of  injury 
by  insects,  118  ;  the  bark  beetle 
and  his  work,  120  ;  how  to  ward 
off  and  fight  the  bark  beetle,  121 ; 
"trap  trees,"  122 ;  moths  and  their 
larvse,  124;  what  caterpillars  do, 
126;  protection  against  cater- 
pillars, 126  ;  enemies  of  the  inju- 
rious insects,  1 28  ;  the  ichneumon 
fly  and  its  work,  129  ;  diseases  help 
out  in  most  insect  calamities,  129. 

Intolerant  trees,  4. 

Iron  and  wood  compared,  232. 

Key  to  our  common  trees,  240  ;  how 
to  use  the  Key,  256. 

Knots,  in  trees,  9 ;  in  timber,  struc- 
ture of,  226. 

Larch  or  tamarack,  how  to  tell  it, 
240 ;  its  wood,  different  kinds 
and  where  they  grow,  264. 

Leaders  of  pine,  etc.,  growth  of,  18. 

Leaf  beetle,  see  Insects,  119. 

Light  and  shade,  14;  too  much  light 
encourages  weeds  and  shrubs,  15  ; 
struggle  for  light,  16 ;  a  lack  of 
light  stunts  but  also  cleans  trees 
of  limbs,  16. 

Limbs,  how  shed ;  leading  to  knot 
holes  and  decay,  9. 

List  of  important  woods  and  trees 
in  the  United  States,  261. 

Lumber,  150;  general  term,  150; 
sizes  and  measurement,  150  ;  rift 
and  bastard,  151-153;  grading 


INDEX 


287 


of  lumber,  152 ;  quantities  used 
in  our  country,  152;  how  logged 
and  lumbered,  153;  white-pine 
lumber,  154  ;  hard  pine,  longleaf, 
pitch  pine,  154 ;  yellow  pine, 
155;  spruce,  155;  redwood,  red 
fir,  cypress,  156  ;  hemlock,  hard- 
woods, 158  ;  advantage  to  carpen- 
ter and  consumer  of  having  stock 
sizes,  159 ;  carpenter's  lumber,  160. 

Lumbering,  133,  166;  tools,  137; 
skidding,  138;  scaling,  139;  the 
landing,  141  ;  "  rolling  in,"  143  ; 
lumbering  compared  with  farmer's 
use  of  woods,  61  ;  lumbering  not 
forestry,  41 ;  lumbering  the  big 
tree,  157  ;  lumbering  cypress,  159  ; 
cooperative  lumbering,  162. 

Lumberman,  his  method  compared 
with  that  of  farmer,  61. 

Maple,  how  to  distinguish  the  trees, 
254 ;  the  wood  and  its  uses,  dif- 
ferent kinds  and  where  they 
occur,  276. 

Measuring  timber,  164 ;  measuring 
diameter  and  height,  171,  172; 
measuring  logs  (scaling  timber), 
172. 

Methods  of  reproduction,  coppice 
or  by  sprouts,  45  ;  by  selection  or 
picking  over,  58  ;  by  starting  the 
young  growth  under  seed  trees, 
64 ;  by  natural  seeding  from  the 
side,  71  ;  by  artificial  seeding  and 
planting,  76  ;  methods  compared, 
95 ;  table  of  comparison,  96. 


Mining  timber,  147. 

Mistletoe,  133. 

Moisture,  its  effect  on  woods,  24 ; 
transition  from  moist  to  dry  dis- 
tricts, 24  ;  lack  of  moisture  leads 
to  simple  and  stunted  forests,  27 ; 
flooding  may  kill  timber,  27 ; 
some  trees  are  used  to  water,  28  ; 
swamp  woods,  28 ;  moist  air  fa- 
vors tree  growth,  30. 

Moth  and  caterpillar,  see  Insects,  115. 

Mountains,  the  forests  of  high  moun- 
tains become  simpler  upwards, 
38 ;  conifers  prevail  at  high  alti- 
tude, 38 ;  extreme  height  stunts 
and  finally  prevents  tree  growth, 
40. 

Mulberry,  276. 

Naval  stores,  industry  of,  see  Resin 
and  turpentine,  174. 

Non-porous  woods,  222. 

Nursery  work,  gathering  seed,  79  ; 
care  of  seeds,  80 ;  seed  beds,  82 ; 
sowing  in  seed  bed,  82  ;  quality  of 
seeds,  84 ;  yield  of  plants,  85  ; 
seedlings,  85;  protection  of,  by 
screens,  etc.,  87 ;  planting,  87 ; 
planting  tools,  89 ;  on  prairies, 
89 ;  shipment  of  plants,  89  ;  spring 
and  fall  planting,  90. 

Oak,  how  to  distinguish  oaks,  248 ; 
the  wood  and  its  many  uses, 
the  different  kinds  and  their  dis- 
tribution, 277. 

Osage  orange,  279. 


288 


FIRST  BOOK  OF  FORESTRY 


Parks,  state  parks,  214. 

Pasturage  in  forests,  178 ;  damage 
by  browsing  and  trampling, 
where  practiced,  178 ;  where 
advisable,  where  it  should  be 
forbidden,  179. 

Persimmon,  279. 

Physical  properties  of  wood,  227. 

Pine,  white  pine,  yellow  pine,  etc., 
as  lumber,  154 ;  how  to  distin- 
guish pine,  240 ;  list  of  different 
pines  and  description  of  their 
wood,  264. 

Pith  rays  in  woods,  222. 

Plantations  of  trees  on  prairies,  195; 
much  has  been  accomplished,  197; 
kinds  raised  and  success,  196, 
197. 

Planting,  see  Nursery  work,  87 ; 
tools,  89 ;  on  prairies,  89 ;  diffi- 
culties, 89  ;  spring  and  fall  plant- 
ing, 90. 

Poles  and  piling,  146. 

Poplars  and  cottonwood,  in  the 
Key,  246  ;  in  the  list  of  woods 
and  kinds,  279. 

Pores  in  wood,  219. 

Posts,  144. 

Prairie  plantations,  see  Plantations, 
195. 

Protection  of  forest,  97 ;  against 
fire,  104 ;  against  storms,  frost, 
snow,  and  ice,  112  ;  against 
insects,  115;  against  larger  ani- 
mals, 130 ;  against  grazing  ani- 
mals, 131  ;  against  injurious 
plants,  131. 


Protective  forests,  203. 
Pulp,  wood  pulp,  how  made,  140. 
Pulp  wood,  140 ;  kinds,  sizes,  and 
qualities,  140. 

Red  fir,  see  Fir,  244,  267. 

Related  topics,  or  matters  akin  to 
forestry,  203. 

Reproduction  of  the  forest,  in  wild- 
woods,  2 ;  in  coppice,  45 ;  in 
ordinary  selection  woods,  58 ; 
under  seed  trees,  64  ;  by  natural 
seeding  from  the  side,  71 ;  by 
artificial  seeding  and  planting,  76. 

Ring-porous  woods,  222. 

Resin  and  turpentine,  174  ;  method 
of  bleeding  or  tapping,  174 ; 
yield,  176. 

Rotation,  50. 

Run-off,  surface  and  underground, 
204. 

Sand  dunes,  198;  where  we  have 
them,  198;  what  injury,  200; 
how  reclaimed,  201. 

Saplings,  16. 

Sapwood,  see  Wood,  217. 

Sassafras,  280. 

Scale  insect,  121. 

Scaling  timber,  see  Measuring,  172. 

Second-growth  wood,  138. 

Seed  beds,  see  Nursery,  82. 

Seeding  from  the  side,  method  of 
reproducing  the  forest,  71 ;  how 
nature  has  done  this  in  our  coun- 
try, 71;  how  the  timber  should 
be  cut,  72 ;  width  of  strips,  73 ; 


INDEX 


289 


guarding  against  damage  from 
storm,  72 ;  regulation  of  work 
where  large  tracts  are  handled, 
73  ;  yield  that  may  be  expected, 
74 ;  what  trees  can  be  used,  75 ; 
experience  in  Europe  with  this 
system,  75 ;  where  it  may  be 
used  with  us,  7G. 

Seedlings,  growth  of,  17;  in  seed 
bed,  85. 

Seeds  of  trees,  6 ;  their  care,  79 ; 
seed  and  mast  as  useful  product, 
177. 

Selection  forest,  58. 

Selection  method,  58 ;  an  old 
method,  60. 

Shade,  prevents  weeds  and  pre- 
vents reproduction,  2 ;  excessive 
shade  kills,  16;  helps  to  clean 
trees,  16  ;  tolerance  of  shade,  4. 

Ship  timber,  148. 

Shrinkage  of  wood,  228. 

Sihlwald,  a  forest  under  proper  care 
for  one  thousand  years,  215. 

Site  is  a  combination  of  soil,  mois- 
ture, temperature  (climate),  and 
other  conditions  which  affect  the 
growth  of  trees,  46. 

Slash,  a  piece  of  forest  land  strewn 
with  the  tops,  limbs,  and  other 
debris  of  lumbering ;  usually 
more  or  less  burned,  43. 

Snow,  injury  from  and  protection 
against,  112. 

Soil,  its  effect  on  the  woods,  18; 
loam  and  clay  soils  produce  mixed 
hardwoods,  11 ;  sands  produce 


pure     stands     of     conifers,    20 ; 

"  hummock  "  soil,    20  ;  what   the 

forest  does  for  the  soil,  23. 
Special  kinds   of    forests,  184;  the 

wood  lot,  184;  waste  lands,  194; 

prairie    plantations,    195 ;     sand 

dunes,  198. 

Spiral  grain  in  wood,  225. 
Spring  wood,  218. 
Sprouts    from    stumps    grow  faster 

than  seedlings,  17. 
Spruce,    how   to    distinguish,    242  ; 

the    wood,    the    different    kinds, 

where  they  grow,  267 ;  as   lum- 
ber, 155. 
Stand  of  timber,  mature  stand  and 

mixed  stand,  2  ;  pure  stand,  20. 
Standard,  52. 

Standard  coppice,  see  Coppice,  52. 
Storms,    injury   of,   and    protection 

against,  112. 
Strength  of  wood,  229. 
Strip  method,  see  Seeding  from  the 

side,  71. 

Sugar  bush,  54,  185,  187,  189. 
Summer  wood,  218. 
Suppressed  trees,  2. 
Swiss  forestry,  historic  note  of,  215. 
Sycamore,  how  to    distinguish    the 

trees,    248;    the    wood    and    the 

distribution  of  the  trees,  280. 
Systems  of  forestry,  see  Methods  of 

reproduction . 

Tables,  of  Doyle  rule,  259  ;  of  cir- 
cles, 260. 
Tamarack,  see  Larch,  240,  264. 


290 


FIRST  BOOK  OF  FORESTRY 


Tan  bark,  coppice  for,  50 ;  how  got 
out,  173. 

Tar  from  wood,  177. 

Temperature,  how  heat  and  cold 
affect  the  woods,  32 ;  cold  cli- 
mates produce  simple  woods  and 
trees  of  small  size,  32 ;  temper- 
ate climates,  more  species,  larger 
size,  34  ;  hot  climates,  different 
species,  great  variety,  35 ;  north 
or  cold  side  of  hill  (north  expo- 
sure) and  high  altitude  act  like 
cold  climates,  36  ;  extreme  cold 
prevents  tree  growth,  37. 

Thinning,  in  timber  forest,  56 ; 
thinning,  in  general,  98  ;  which  to 
take  out,  99 ;  it  costs  money  to 
thin,  10-0 ;  degree  of  thinning 
decided,  100 ;  about  how  many 
trees  to  leave,  102  ;  different  kinds 
need  different  degrees  of  thinning, 
102. 

Timber  cruising,  165. 

Timber  forest,  of  ordinary  hard- 
woods, 53 ;  its  border,  54 ;  thin- 
ning in,  56 ;  method  of  treating, 
58 ;  kinds  of  trees  to  use,  59 ; 
difficulties,  59  ;  an  old  method, 
60 ;  system  applied  in  United 
States,  60 ;  preferably  handled 
in  an  orderly  way  (regulated), 
64. 

Tolerant  and  intolerant  trees,  4. 

Tough  wood,  229'. 

Trap  trees,  see  Insects,  122. 

Trees,  how  to  distinguish  the  most 
common  ones,  238 ;  leaves  the 


principal  help,  239  ;  key  to  com- 
mon trees,  240  ;  pine  family,  pine 
and  larch,  240  ;  spruce,  hemlock, 
242 ;  red  fir,  balsam,  cypress, 
cedars,  and  redwood,  244 ;  broad- 
leaved  trees,  beech,  chestnut, 
birch,  poplar,  elm,  basswood,  246  ; 
cherry,  sycamore,  oak,  248  ;  tulip 
or  yellow  poplar,  sweet  gum,  sas- 
safras, magnolia,  sour  gum,  black 
gum  or  tupelo,  250 ;  maple, 
catalpa,  locust,  walnut,  hickory, 
and  pecan,  254  ;  ash,  box  elder, 
buckeye  or  horse-chestnut,  256  ; 
how  to  use  the  Key,  256 ;  list  of 
important  trees  of  United  States, 
261. 

Tulip  poplar  or  yellow  poplar,  281. 

Twisted  grain  in  wood,  225. 

Under  seed  trees,  method  of  start- 
ing young  growth,  64 ;  different 
cuts,  65 ;  when  seed  trees  should 
be  removed,  66  ;  what  trees  can 
be  started  in  this  way,  66  ;  where 
the  method  is  used,  66;  where 
it  may  be  used  in  our  country, 
66  ;  rotation  in  this  system,  68 ; 
how  to  pick  out  the  cuttings  or 
felling  area,  68  ;  fail  places  should 
be  filled,  70 ;  application  to  large 
tracts,  71. 

Use  of  the  forest,  133 ;  to  primitive 
man,  133;  to  human  progress, 
133;  firewood,  136;  tools  used 
in  timber  cutting,  137;  pulp 
wood,  140 ;  acid  wood,  142  ;  posts 


INDEX 


291 


(fence  posts,  etc.),  144;  railway 
ties,  145 ;  poles  and  piling,  146 ; 
mining  timber,  147  ;  export  tim- 
ber, 147  ;  lumber,  150  ;  estimat- 
ing timber  in  lumbering,  164 ; 
tan  bark,  173 ;  resin  and  turpen- 
tine, 174;  seeds  and  mast,  177; 
pasturage,  178 ;  game  and  fish, 
180. 

Walnut,  black  walnut  and  white 
walnut,  254,  281. 

Wastefulness  of  nature  in  wild- 
woods,  11. 

Waste  lands,  193 ;  where  we  have 
them,  193 ;  how  they  have  been 
utilized  and  made  to  bear  valu- 
able crops,  194. 

Weight  of  wood,  227. 

Wild  woods,  1. 

Wood,  a  chapter  on  wood,  217 ; 
structural  features,  217  ;  sap  and 
heart  wood,  217  ;  the  yearly  or 
annual  ring,  217 ;  spring  and 
summer  wood,  218;  pores  in 
wood,  219;  ring-porous,  diff use- 
porous,  and  non-porous  woods, 
222 ;  pith  rays,  222 ;  grain  of 
wood,  224;  straight  and  spiral 
grain,  225  ;  bird's-eye  and  curly 
structure,  226 ;  knots  in  wood, 

226  ;  physical  properties  of  wood, 

227  ;  weight  of  wood,  227  ;   mois- 
ture in  wood,  227  ;  shrinkage  of 


wood  on  drying,  228;  checking 
during  shrinkage,  228 ;  strength 
of  wood,  229  ;  tough  woods,  229  ; 
chemical  properties,  230;  dura- 
bility and  decay  of  wood,  230. 

Wood  acid  or  wood  vinegar,  142. 

Wood  and  iron,  a  comparison  of 
the  two,  232  ;  wood  is  a  natural 
product,  232  ;  wood  is  cheap  and 
soft,  cleaves,  is  strong,  233  ;  wood 
is  light,  poor  conductor  of  heat 
and  electricity,  234  ;  wood  is  inof- 
fensive and  handsome,  235  ;  wood 
can  be  glued,  wood  burns  and  fur- 
nishes heat,  236 ;  wood  can  be 
made  into  pulp  and  converted 
into  many  useful  substances,  237. 

Wood  lot,  or  small  tracts  usually 
belonging  to  farms,  184;  what 
to  raise,  188  ;  a  sugar  bush,  189  ; 
utilizing  the  timber,  190  ;  actual 
results  obtained,  191. 

Wood  pulp,  see  Pulp  wood,  140. 

Yearly  or  annual  ring,  217. 

Yellow  pine,  see  Lumber,  155. 

Yellow  poplar,' see  Tulip  poplar,  250, 
281. 

Yew,  its  wood  and  where  found,  268. 

Yield  or  cut  per  acre  that  may  be 
expected  in  coppice,  46 ;  in  pine 
timber,  if  fully  stocked,  74  ;  of 
log  timber  in  hardwood  and  coni- 
fers, 64. 


14  DAY  USE 

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